The Bankruptcy Puzzle

• Author(s): Francis Buckley, Margaret Brinig
• Posted: 1995
• Law & Economics #: 95-06
• Availability: Full text (most recent) on SSRN

ABSTRACT:

This article offers new evidence on the determinants of U.S. consumer bankruptcy filing rates, which tripled from 1984 to 1991. We show that differences in state filing rates from 1980 to 1991 are not attributable to legal or common economic variables, but that one-third of the variance may be explained through social predictors.