Skip to content

Publications

Industry Specialization and Small Business Lending

Wenhua Di, Nathaniel Pattison

Paper Working Paper

The Journal of Banking and Finance (2023)

Using loan-level data with detailed industry codes from the Small Business Administration (SBA), we document a recent increase in lenders that originate loans nationally but to a limited number of industries. We then examine the impact of industry-specialized lending on credit availability and banking competition. Exploiting the staggered entry of a large, specialized lender, we find significant increases in total SBA-backed lending with no evidence of substitution from other lenders. We then explore potential mechanisms behind the increase in lending.

Previously circulated as "Distant Lending, Specialization, and Access to Credit"

A Modern Poor Debtor's Oath

Richard M. Hynes, Nathaniel Pattison

Virginia Law Review (2022), 108(4).

Paper

We propose that a modern version of the historical “Poor Debtor’s Oath” could reduce bankruptcy’s transaction costs while still screening high-income and high-asset filers.

Who Benefits from Bans on Employer Credit Checks?

Leora Friedberg, Richard M. Hynes, Nathaniel Pattison

The Journal of Law and Economics (November 2021), 64(4)

Paper Working Paper

Several states have passed laws that prohibit employers from using credit reports in hiring decisions. This paper evaluates the impact of these bans on the labor market outcomes of financially distressed job seekers.

Consumption Smoothing And Debtor Protections

Nathaniel Pattison

Journal of Public Economics (December 2020), 192.

Paper Working Paper Online Appendix

This paper evaluates the costs and benefits of debtor protections, both inside and outside of bankruptcy. First, I show that consumption declines by 6% upon default, revealing a potential role for greater debtor protections to smooth consumption. Second, I use changes in states’ laws to estimate the impact of one type of debtor protection, asset exemptions, on repayment in default and interest rates. While higher exemptions smooth consumption by reducing collection in default, the interest rate cost is large relative to the benefits.

Asset Exemptions and Consumer Bankruptcies: Evidence from Individual Filings

Richard M. Hynes, Nathaniel Pattison

The Journal of Law and Economics (August 2020), 63(3).

Paper SSRN

Using detailed individual-level data on all bankruptcies filed over the last decade, we examine how more generous asset exemptions change the number and characteristics of households filing for bankruptcy.

Auto Credit and the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform: The Impact of Eliminating Cramdowns

Rajashri Chakrabarti, Nathaniel Pattison

The Review of Financial Studies (2019), 32(12), 4734-4766.

Paper

Exploiting persistent historical variation in states’ bankruptcy patterns, we find that increased creditor protection from a major 2005 bankruptcy reform led to lower interest rates for consumers.

Dotan Oliar, Nathaniel Pattison, K. Ross Powell

Texas Law Review (2014), 92(7), 2211-2248.

SSRN

Using an original data set containing all U.S. Copyright registrations from 2008 to 2012, we provide a snapshot of current patterns and characteristics of copyright registration.