Aversion to Student Debt? Evidence from Low‐Wage Workers
结合最低工资变动与个人收入和信用数据，发现最低工资上涨后低工资工人收入增加、债务减少，且债务下降完全源于在校大学生减少学贷借款，这无法用信贷约束等理性渠道解释，而符合心理账户导致的学贷效用成本。
ABSTRACT We combine state minimum wage changes with individual‐level income and credit data to estimate the effect of wage gains on the debt of low‐wage workers. In the three years following a $0.88 minimum wage increase, low‐wage workers experience a $2,712 income increase and a $856 decrease in debt. The entire decline in debt comes from less student loan borrowing among enrolled college students. Credit constraints, buffer‐stock behavior, and other rational channels cannot explain the reduction in student debt. Our results are consistent with students perceiving a utility cost of borrowing student debt arising from mental accounting.