This paper tests whether heterogeneity of time preferences can explain individual credit behavior. In a field experiment targeting individuals from low-to-moderate income households, we measure individual time preferences through choice experiments, and then match these time preference measures...

Approximately half of credit card holders in the United States regularly carry unpaid credit card debt. These so-called "revolvers" exhibit payment behavior that differs from that of those who repay their entire credit card balance every month. Previous literature has focused on the adoption of...

"Collateral damaged" explains how America had turned from a nation of savers into a nation of consumers addicted to debt. Wall Street then used that addiction to create "toxic securities" that threaten to bring about the collapse of the global economy. How can America get its fiscal house in...