We examine how the withdrawal of the largest expansion of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits in U.S. history affected job-finding, the demand for other government assistance, and defaults on credit products. Using administrative UI data merged with applications for government services and...

Captive finance subsidiaries, vertically integrated lenders, create a potential channel for trade policy to affect consumer credit. Examining the Trump administration 2018 metal tariffs’ impact on auto manufacturers, we find consumers received worse auto loan terms from captive lenders after...

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....

We use payroll and consumer credit data to estimate the effect of the minimum wage on the debts of low-wage workers. In the three years following a $0.88 increase in the minimum wage, the average low-wage worker experiences a $2,712 increase in income and a $856 decrease in debt. The entire...

We use administrative payroll data to examine how firms adjust employment in response to aggregate shocks. We use the COVID-19 pandemic as a laboratory. Exploiting within firm-state variation, we find that firms are more likely to lay off low-income and high-tenure employees before other classes...

Using detailed data for homeowners in the U.S., we document a negative, non-linear relation between the loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of the primary residence and labor income. Consistent with constrained mobility for high LTV individuals, we find stronger effects among sub-prime, liquidity...

We use administrative payroll data to estimate the effect of the minimum wage on employment and wages. We find that both effects are nuanced. While the overall number of low-wage workers in firms declines, incumbent workers are no less likely to remain employed. We find that firms reduce...

We study the impact of index investing on firm performance by examining the link between commodity indices and firms that use index commodities. Around 2004, there was a dramatic increase in commodity index investing, an event referred to as the financialization of commodity markets. Following...