TY - JOUR T1 - How Does Bankruptcy Law Impact the Elderly' s Business and Housing Decisions? JF - The Journal of Law and Economics Y1 - 2013 A1 - Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley A1 - Rohlin, Shawn KW - Housing KW - Net Worth and Asset KW - Net Worth and Assets KW - Public Policy KW - Retirement Planning and Satisfaction AB - The elderly are the population most likely to file for bankruptcy, with filings increasing by 150 percent from 1991 to 2007. This is likely because they live with relatively flat incomes and high medical expenses, and their retirement and housing assets are typically exempt from bankruptcy filings. In addition, nine states adopted higher asset exemptions specifically for the elderly. Using the Health and Retirement Study and recent state-by-time variation in homestead exemptions, we are the first to test whether the benefits of partial wealth insurance or the cost of supply-side credit constraints are predominant for the elderly. Using pooled cross-sectional analysis, we find that an increase in a state' s homestead exemption increases the elderly' s home equity and business ownership; however, the credit constraint is dominant in unlimited-exemption states, which decreases home and business ownership. Panel analysis reveals that an increase in the homestead exemption positively affects home ownership rates and home equity. PB - 56 VL - 56 UR - http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/670911 IS - 2 U4 - home equity/bankruptcy/Retirees/retirement planning/homestead exemption/Public Policy/assets/Housing ER -