. This paper uses household-level data from the 'experiment' of German reunification that (exogenously) offered to East …-unification participation of former East and West Germans in financial products, controlling for relevant household characteristics. We vary …

-) indebtedness which relate household income and debt services to different concepts of subsistence levels, this paper investigates … whether severe household indebtedness is driven by trigger events such as unemployment, childbirth, divorce, or the death of … are likely to cause severe household indebtedness. Unemployment also worsens the relative debt situation mainly due to the …