Who Invests in Home Equity to Exempt Wealth from Bankruptcy?

52 Pages Posted: 18 May 2011

See all articles by Stefano Corradin

Stefano Corradin

European Central Bank (ECB)

Reint Gropp

Halle Institute for Economic Research

Harry Huizinga

Tilburg University - Center for Economic Research (CentER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Luc Laeven

European Central Bank (ECB); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: May 2011

Abstract

Homestead exemptions to personal bankruptcy allow households to retain their home equity up to a limit determined at the state level. Households that may experience bankruptcy thus have an incentive to bias their portfolios towards home equity. Using US household data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation for the period 1996-2006, we find that especially households with low net worth maintain a larger share of their wealth as home equity if a larger homestead exemption applies. This home equity bias is also more pronounced if the household head is in poor health, increasing the chance of bankruptcy on account of unpaid medical bills. The bias is further stronger for households with mortgage finance, shorter house tenures, and younger household heads, which taken together reflect households that face more financial uncertainty.

Keywords: Homestead exemptions, Personal bankruptcy, Portfolio allocation, Home ownership

JEL Classification: G11, K35, R21

Suggested Citation

Corradin, Stefano and Gropp, Reint and Huizinga, Harry and Laeven, Luc A., Who Invests in Home Equity to Exempt Wealth from Bankruptcy? (May 2011). ECB Working Paper No. 1337, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1824242 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1824242

Stefano Corradin (Contact Author)

European Central Bank (ECB) ( email )

Sonnemannstrasse 22
Frankfurt am Main, 60314
Germany

Reint Gropp

Halle Institute for Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 11 03 61
Kleine Maerkerstrasse 8
D-06017 Halle, 06108
Germany

Harry Huizinga

Tilburg University - Center for Economic Research (CentER) ( email )

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands
+31 13 466 2623 (Phone)
+31 13 466 3042 (Fax)

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Luc A. Laeven

European Central Bank (ECB) ( email )

Sonnemannstrasse 22
Frankfurt am Main, 60314
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

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