This chapter examines patterns of financial choices by a credit union's members using transaction-level administrative data on checking, savings, and line-of-credit (LOC) accounts. We observe substantial payday loan use when cheaper sources of liquidity are available, resulting in average...

We exploit the random assignment of judges in personal bankruptcy proceedings to test whether race and politics bias judges granting debt discharges in chapter 13 (reorganization) and chapter 7 (liquidation) bankruptcy proceedings. To do so, we have collected a random sample of 9,526 bankruptcy...

As humankind's oldest financial institution, pawnbroking has served the financial needs of low-income families for centuries. Recently, and especially in the last five years, an increasing number of consumers have relied on pawnbrokers to help them meet daily financial needs. Seven percent of...

Millions of credit-constrained borrowers turn to title loans to meet their liquidity needs. Legislatures and regulators have debated how to best regulate these transactions, but surprisingly, we still know very little about the customers who use title loans. This Article reports findings from...

High-cost consumer credit has proliferated in the past two decades, raising regulatory scrutiny. We match administrative data from a payday lender with nationally representative credit bureau files to examine the choices of payday loan applicants and assess whether payday loans help or harm...

This article provides a side-by-side comparison of payday lending and consumer litigation funding in order to aid policymakers. Funding has similarities with payday lending because they are both alternative financial services, involve high interest rates, and cater to customers who need money...

Using a unique dataset matched at the individual level from two administrative sources, we examine household choices between liabilities and assess the informational content of prime and subprime credit scores in the consumer credit market. First, more specifically, we assess consumers'...

Should arbitrators consider authority—such as statutes or case law—external to the collective bargaining agreement when deciding labor grievances? Do they rely on such external authority? If so, do they do so in particular circumstances or in certain types of cases? To provide more insight...