Explaining the Puzzle of Cross‐State Differences in Bankruptcy Rates
利用邮政编码层面数据，分离人口变量与州政策变量的影响，发现人口特征、工资扣押限制和第十三章破产占比解释了各州破产率70%的差异，而豁免率、公共安全网和发薪日贷款监管几乎没有贡献。
Bankruptcy rates vary tremendously across states, and it is not obvious why. The number of candidate explanations is large relative to the number of states. To overcome this problem, we use zip‐code‐level data to identify the importance of demographic variables using within‐state variation. This preserves state‐level degrees of freedom to identify the impact of state policy variables. Demographics, wage garnishment restrictions, and the fraction of bankruptcies filed under Chapter 13 explain 70 percent of the variation in filing rates across states. Exemption rates, size of public safety nets, and payday loan regulations contribute virtually nothing to the cross‐state variance in filing rates. Our findings suggest that state bankruptcy rates reflect the relative costs of filing for formal bankruptcy versus informal default. States without effective wage garnishment provisions allow easy informal default. Furthermore, repayment plans mandated under Chapter 13 bankruptcy often lead to repeated bankruptcy filings.