Consumer Bankruptcy and Mortgage Default

We specify and estimate a rich model of consumption, housing demand and labor supply in an environment where individuals may file for bankruptcy or default on their mortgage. Uncertainty in the model is driven both by house price shocks and income shocks, while bankruptcy is governed by the basic institutional framework in the US as implied by chpater 7 and chapter 13. The model is estimated using micro data on credit reports and mortgages combined with individual level data from the American Community Survey. We perform several counterfactual experiments with the model which investigate welfare aspects of an important reform of the US consumer bankruptcy code implemented in 2006.