The Effect of Principal Reduction on Household Distress: Evidence from Mortgage Cramdown

60 Pages Posted: 7 Jun 2021 Last revised: 19 Dec 2022

See all articles by Jacelly Cespedes

Jacelly Cespedes

University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management

Carlos Parra

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile - School of Business

Clemens Sialm

University of Texas at Austin - McCombs School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: June 2021

Abstract

Mortgage cramdown enabled bankruptcy judges to discharge the underwater portion of a mortgage during Chapter 13 bankruptcy before the Supreme Court disallowed this practice in 1993. We exploit the random assignment of cases to judges to quantify the ex-post effects of Chapter 13 bankruptcy over the period from 1989 to 1993. We find that a successful Chapter 13 filing in a cramdown court substantially decreases the five-year foreclosure rate, the propensity to move, and the crime rate. Our results suggest that principal write-down considerably reduces homeowner’s distress.

Suggested Citation

Cespedes, Jacelly and Parra, Carlos and Sialm, Clemens, The Effect of Principal Reduction on Household Distress: Evidence from Mortgage Cramdown (June 2021). NBER Working Paper No. w28900, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3861430

Jacelly Cespedes (Contact Author)

University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management ( email )

19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
United States

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/site/jacellycespedes/

Carlos Parra

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile - School of Business ( email )

Vicuna Mackenna 4860
Santiago
Chile

HOME PAGE: http://www.carlosrparra.com/

Clemens Sialm

University of Texas at Austin - McCombs School of Business ( email )

Austin, TX 78712
United States

HOME PAGE: http://faculty.mccombs.utexas.edu/Clemens.Sialm/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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