Borrowing During Unemployment
研究失业导致的收入损失如何影响家庭的无担保债务，发现资产极低的家庭不增加借贷，而其他低资产家庭每损失1美元收入增加超过11美分债务，富裕家庭则无变化。
Abstract This paper examines whether unsecured credit markets help disadvantaged households supplement temporary shortfalls in earnings by investigating how unsecured debt responds to unemployment-induced earnings losses. Results indicate that very low-asset households—those in the bottom decile of total assets—do not borrow in response to these shortfalls. However, other low-asset households do borrow, increasing unsecured debt by more than 11 cents per dollar of earnings lost. In contrast, wealthy households do not increase unsecured debt during unemployment. The evidence suggests that very low-asset households do not have sufficient access to unsecured credit to smooth consumption over transitory unemployment spells.