In this paper we develop a theory where homeowners make joint decisions in financial distress as whether to file for bankruptcy or default on their mortgages. The theory models explicitly institutional details, the federal bankruptcy law and the state foreclosure laws, that govern the two...

We assess the credit market impact of allowing mortgage “strip-down” as a foreclosure-prevention measure, where strip-down reduces the principal of underwater residential mortgages to the current market value of the property for homeowners in Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Our identification is...

This paper examines how personal bankruptcy and bankruptcy exemptions affect the supply and demand for credit. While generous state-level bankruptcy exemptions are probably viewed by most policymakers as benefitting less-well-off borrowers, our results using data from the 1983 Survey of Consumer...