Consumer bankruptcy has increased more than 4-fold since 1980. Livshits, MacGee, and Tertilt (2006) show that a decline in the social stigma of bankruptcy together with a decline in the transactions cost of borrowing can account for both increased filings and increased unsecured borrowing by...

Do cognitive biases call for regulation to limit the use of credit? We incorporate over-optimistic and rational borrowers into an incomplete markets model with consumer bankruptcy. Over-optimists face worse income risk but incorrectly believe they are rational. Thus, both types behave...

Personal bankruptcy filings have increased dramatically: rising from 1.4 in per thousand of working age population 1970 to 8.5 in 2002 in the United States and from 0.2 in 1970 to 4.3 in 2002 in Canada. This paper asks whether 6 commonly mentioned potential explanations -- financial innovation,...

Can a US-style housing bust happen in Canada? Recent swings in Canadian house prices have raised concerns about the possibility. To evaluate the likelihood of a US style housing market crash in Canada, this paper examines what caused the US housing boom and bust from 2000 to 2009. A decline in...

When evaluating the moral impact of actions that affect animals in a utilitarian framework, numbers are used in calculations. However, there is a great disagreement among scholars involved with animal ethics, both in terms of how much different animals can suffer and how much that suffering...

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