The Consumption Effects Associated with Filing for Personal Bankruptcy

This article examines the response of food consumption to filing for personal bankruptcy in the spirit of previous work on the benefits of other social-insurance programs. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we find that an increase in the financial benefit to filing for bankruptcy increases the growth in food consumption. In addition, we find that filing under chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code provides consumption insurance, while filing under chapter 13 of the bankruptcy code provides no significant consumption benefits.