| dc.contributor.author |
Hansen, Mary Eschelbach |
|
| dc.contributor.author |
Hansen, Bradley A. |
|
| dc.date.accessioned |
2009-02-19T14:10:00Z |
|
| dc.date.available |
2009-02-19T14:10:00Z |
|
| dc.date.created |
2006-12 |
|
| dc.date.issued |
2006-12 |
|
| dc.identifier.uri |
http://hdl.handle.net/1961/4983 |
|
| dc.description |
Working Paper No. 2006-16. 49 pages. |
en |
| dc.description.abstract |
Since the early twentieth century, observers have attributed the wide variation in state bankruptcy
rates to variation in state legal rules such as garnishment and bankruptcy exemptions. Recent
econometric analyses, however, conclude that legal rules do not matter. We explore the impact of
legal rules on bankruptcy rates using a new technique—fixed effects vector decomposition—to
exploit historical variation in legal rules. The technique allows us to estimate the impact of timeinvariant
legal rules in a fixed effects framework. We find that the variation in state legal rules
explains much of the variation in state wage earner bankruptcy rates for 1926 to 1932. |
en |
| dc.description.sponsorship |
Department of Economics, American University |
en |
| dc.language.iso |
en_US |
en |
| dc.publisher |
Department of Economics, American University |
en |
| dc.subject.other |
Bankruptcy |
en |
| dc.subject.other |
Fixed effects vector decomposition |
en |
| dc.subject.other |
Law and economics |
en |
| dc.title |
Legal Rules and Bankruptcy Rates: Historical Evidence from the States |
en |
| dc.type |
Working Paper |
en |