Bad Credit, No Problem? Credit and Labor Market Consequences of Bad Credit Reports

98 Pages Posted: 28 Sep 2016 Last revised: 8 Feb 2019

See all articles by Will Dobbie

Will Dobbie

Princeton University

Paul S. Goldsmith-Pinkham

Yale School of Management

Neale Mahoney

University of Chicago Booth School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Jae Song

U.S. Social Security Administration

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 30, 2019

Abstract

We study the financial and labor market impacts of bad credit reports. Using difference-in-differences variation from the staggered removal of bankruptcy flags, we show that bankruptcy flag removal leads to economically large increases in credit limits and borrowing. Using administrative tax records linked to personal bankruptcy records, we estimate economically small effects of flag removal on employment and earnings outcomes. We rationalize these contrasting results by showing that, conditional on basic observables, “hidden” bankruptcy flags are strongly correlated with adverse credit market outcomes but have no predictive power for labor market outcomes.

Keywords: Credit Reports, Borrowing, Labor Market, Bankruptcy

JEL Classification: G28, J23, J70, K31, K35

Suggested Citation

Dobbie, Will and Goldsmith-Pinkham, Paul S. and Mahoney, Neale and Song, Jae, Bad Credit, No Problem? Credit and Labor Market Consequences of Bad Credit Reports (January 30, 2019). Kreisman Working Papers Series in Housing Law and Policy No. 42, Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics Working Paper No. 2018-8, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2844316 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2844316

Will Dobbie

Princeton University ( email )

Paul S. Goldsmith-Pinkham

Yale School of Management ( email )

NY
United States

HOME PAGE: http://paulgp.github.io

Neale Mahoney (Contact Author)

University of Chicago Booth School of Business ( email )

5807 South Woodlawn Ave
Chicago, IL 60637
United States
773.702.9278 (Phone)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Jae Song

U.S. Social Security Administration ( email )

Washington, DC 20254
United States
202-358-6403 (Phone)
202-358-6192 (Fax)

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