This paper studies the impact of unemployment insurance (UI) on consumer credit markets. Exploiting heterogeneity in UI generosity across U.S. states and over time, we find that UI helps the unemployed avoid defaulting on their mortgage debt. We estimate that UI expansions during the Great...

The cognitive ability needed to manage finances is a form of human capital. Dementias cause progressive declines in cognition. We analyze how information about decline affects the choice of the household financial decision maker using longitudinal data on older couples. We find that as the...