In Australia, financial hardship caused by over-indebtedness is no longer only experienced by the most vulnerable social group but is now prevalent among the general population. This scoping paper analyses the money advice and debt management system in Australia with emphasis on their...

This scoping paper outlines credit counselling and debt management structures in the United States and their effectiveness in improving consumers' financial management status. First, various public and private credit counselling systems are explained with a focus on each institution's roles and...

In this paper, we examine how US households' access to credit affects their participation in safety-net programs. We examine how participation in the Food Stamp Program (FSP)/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program respond to...

The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics and long-term outcomes of consumers participating in nonprofit credit counseling, including those who do and do not enroll in debt management plans. We construct a panel dataset of consumers participating in the National Foundation for...

We study the interplay between quality provision and consumer search in a search market where firms may design products of inferior quality to promote them to naive consumers who fail to fully understand product characteristics. We derive an equilibrium in which both superior and inferior...