Given an Out, People Still Fall Back into Debt
Research finds that keeping people out of debt traps isn’t as simple as paying off their loans.
Given an Out, People Still Fall Back into DebtPaper Debt Traps? Market Vendors and Moneylender Debt in India and the Philippines
A debt trap occurs when someone takes on a high-interest-rate loan and is barely able to pay back the interest, and thus perpetually finds themselves in debt (often by refinancing). Studying such practices is important for understanding financial decision-making of households in dire circumstances, and also for setting appropriate consumer protection policies. We conduct a simple experiment in three sites in which we paid off high-interest moneylender debt of individuals. Most borrowers returned to debt within six weeks. One to two years after intervention, treatment individuals were borrowing at the same rate as control households.
Published in: American Economic Review: Insights
- Authored by
- 2019
- Financial Inclusion
Read the Research in Chicago Booth Review