Bankruptcy and Debt Portfolios
نویسندگان
چکیده
We use a heterogeneous-agent model, in which labor income is risky and markets are incomplete, to analyze consumer debt portfolios of secured and unsecured debt in the US. Compared with previous research, we emphasize the role of durables which not only generate utility but also serve as debt collateral. This allows a meaningful joint analysis of secured and unsecured debt and introduces endogenous bankruptcy costs: durables need to be sold to service secured debt in bankruptcy procedures which implies forgone durable utility since adjusting durables is costly. We solve the model numerically and apply it to understand bankruptcy and consumer debt portfolios in the US and their evolution over time.
منابع مشابه
Credit Rationing, Bankruptcy Cost, and Optimal Debt Contract for Small Business
This paper examines the relationship between debt contract and the process of resolving financial distress, through either debt restructuring or bankruptcy procedure. It effectively justifies the popularity of the standard debt contract by demonstrating that the standard debt contract is the optimal debt contract for small business with the costly random verification scheme. Although this resul...
متن کاملThe Design of Corporate Debt Structure and Bankruptcy∗
This paper integrates the problem of designing corporate bankruptcy rules into a theory of optimal debt structure. We show that, in an optimal contracting framework with imperfect renegotiation, having multiple creditors increases a firm’s debt capacity while increasing its incentives to default strategically. The optimal debt contract gives creditors claims that are jointly inconsistent in cas...
متن کاملA Cross-Country Comparison of External Debt
External debt accrues as a result of borrowing by Australian residents from residents of other countries. It includes the borrowings of both the private and government sectors. Net external debt represents gross debt less lending by Australian residents to non-residents. Debt, however, is not the only form of external liability. Foreigners can also hold equity claims in the form of share portfo...
متن کاملThe Role of Information in Consumer Debt and Bankruptcy
Consumer debt and bankruptcy are central issues today because of their explosive trends over the last 20 years in the U.S. economy. However, there is no convincing explanation for these facts. A drop in information costs, a potential cause, has not been evaluated mainly because there is no quantitative theory of consumer debt and bankruptcy where the cost of information plays an important role....
متن کاملThe Design of Corporate Debt Structure and Bankruptcy
This paper integrates the problem of designing corporate bankruptcy rules into a theory of optimal debt structure. We show that, in an optimal contracting framework with imperfect renegotiation, having multiple creditors increases a firm’s debt capacity while increasing its incentives to default strategically. The optimal debt contract gives creditors claims that are jointly inconsistent in cas...
متن کامل