Personal bankruptcy filing behavior: the case of youth in the U.S.

Abstract

The current study analyzes personal bankruptcy ling behavior of young Americans born in the period from 1980 to 1984. Using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), I nd the importance of demographic and socio-economic variables in the context of consumer bankruptcy ling. First, I the analyze youth personal bankruptcy behavior by ages 25 and 30 in a Logit model framework to discover the roles of demographic and socio-economic characteristics in the personal bankruptcy ling behavior. I fi nd that race/ethnicity has negatively significant cant effect and gender, marital status, number of children, and work experience have positively significant cant effects on the decision to declare for bankruptcy by age 25. Level of education is negative signi significant and martial status, history of illnesses and injuries, and work experience are positive signi ficant determinants of the decision to declare for bankruptcy by age 30.