In 2013, the Dutch government mandated that new conforming mortgages must fully
amortize. Within a difference-in-differences design, we estimate that the marginal wealth …

Neither theory nor existing empirical evidence support the notion that wealth taxation
reduces saving. Theoretically, the effect is ambiguous due to opposing income and …

Standard mortgage contracts include periodic debt repayment plans (amortization
schedules) designed to build-up illiquid savings in the form of home equity, which can be …

Using the dispersion in stock returns during the financial crisis as a source of exogenous
variation in the wealth of Norwegian entrepreneurs who held listed stocks, I show that …

This paper shows that shocks to social benefits have local multiplier effects that are borne
primarily by economically fragile households. Using a large welfare reform in the UK, we …

We develop a dynamic model showing that student loans--non-dischargeable in the US
bankruptcy--can alleviate the well-documented debt overhang problem in household labor …

Unlike labor income, human capital is inseparable from individuals and does not completely
accrue to creditors, even at default. As a result, human capital investment should be more …

In the presence of financial frictions, the timing of cash flows matters. We apply this insight to
optimal income taxation by studying a new policy: delayed taxation. Introducing a delay …

Financially constrained agents discount future cash flows at above-market rates. In this
paper, we present the hypothesis that delaying tax payments can materially reduce …

Does household leverage matter for workers' job search, matching in the labor market, and
wages? Theoretically, household leverage has been shown to have opposing effects on the …