"In Bankrupt in America, Mary and Brad Hansen show that examination of how Americans have used bankruptcy law and the history of the law itself offers important perspective on the history of bankruptcy in America. Using new statistical and documentary evidence, they illustrate the cycles of...

We examine whether corporate bankruptcies influence bank loan characteristics of geographically proximate firms. Controlling for industry contagion and local economic conditions, firms headquartered near a bankruptcy event experience a seven basis point increase in loan spreads. The effect is...

We investigate the propagation of contagion through banks' balance sheets in a two-country model. We simulate an increase in non-performing loans in one bank, and study the effects on other banks and the macro economy of each country. We show that credit crunches destabilize each economy in the...