We document the cyclical properties of unsecured consumer credit (procyclical and volatile) and of consumer bankruptcies (countercyclical and very volatile). Using a growth model with household heterogeneity in earnings and assets with access to unsecured credit (because of bankruptcy costs) and...

We provide a novel explanation to the longstanding puzzle of the “missing bankruptcy filings.” Even though a household with a negative net worth will receive contemporaneous benefit from bankruptcy, there may be greater insurance value from delaying the filing. Household bankruptcy is thus...