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state-by-state basis. The authors identify several measurable economic factors, then claim that any rise in bankruptcy filings that is not explained by those economic factors must be caused by a decline in stigma. For example, they suggest that the people of Tennessee (who have relatively higher bankruptcy filing rates) must feel less shame than the people of Hawaii (who have relatively lower bankruptcy filing rates). See Scott Fay, Erik Hurst, and Michelle J. White, “The Bankruptcy Decision: Does Stigma Matter?” Working Paper 98-01, Department of Economics, University of Michigan (January 1998). In a later paper, the same authors use similar data to show that families who could benefit the most from bankruptcy (that is, the families whose debts are highest relative to their assets and state law exemptions) are most likely to file for bankruptcy, thus proving—at least to these authors—that these families are somehow “strategic” in their use of bankruptcy, which supposedly means they feel no stigma. Scott Fay, Erik Hurst, and Michelle J. White, “The Household Bankruptcy Decision,” American Economic Review 92 (June 2002): 706-718. Another study takes a similar approach, explaining as much of the variation in the use of credit cards as possible on the basis of economic factors, then declaring that families were more likely to file for bankruptcy in 1997 than they had been in 1995 because of a decline in stigma during that two-year period. David B. Gross and Nicholas S. Souleles, “An Empirical Analysis of Personal Bankruptcy and Delinquency,” 98-28-B, Financial Institutions Center, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (November 1999). Other researchers look at social factors as well as economic factors. For example, one study focuses on the role of religion. The study assumes that Catholics have more moral qualms about filing for bankruptcy than, say, Methodists, Jews, or agnostics. F. H. Buckley and Margaret F. Brinig, “The Bankruptcy Puzzle,” Journal of Legal Studies 27 (January 1998): 187-207.

8 Fay, Hurst, and White, “The Household Bankruptcy Decision.” The Panel Study of Income Data, a long-term study of family finances conducted by the University of Michigan, is held up as about as perfect a cross-section of American households as researchers can construct. Only aggregate data are reported, and individual responses are held in the strictest confidence. The families in the study willingly share information about their incomes, their purchases, their debts, their investments, and scores of other financial data with the researchers. And yet, when these families were asked about whether they had filed for bankruptcy, only about half of the predicted number confessed to a bankruptcy filing. Either the sample is badly skewed, which no researcher has claimed, or the families concealed their bankruptcy filings. The authors report these facts, although they do not draw the inference that the study subjects were reluctant to report their bankruptcy filings.

9 Michelle J. White, “Why It Pays to File for Bankruptcy: A Critical Look at the Incentives Under U.S. Personal Bankruptcy Law and a Proposal for Change,” University of Chicago Law Review 65 (Summer 1998): 685-732. White shows that about 17 percent of U.S. households would profit from filing for bankruptcy—and yet, for some reason (presumably at least somewhat influenced by a sense of shame or stigma), they don’t file. Despite this finding, White is one of the coauthors of another paper (cited above) claiming that stigma has declined.

10 Congressman Rick Boucher is one of many who have used this term: “Bankruptcies of convenience are driving this increase [in bankruptcy filings]. Bankruptcy was never meant to be used as a financial planning tool, but it is becoming a first stop rather than a last resort. . . .” Congressman Rick Boucher, Hearing on Bankruptcy Reform and Financial Services Issues, Senate Banking Committee (March 25, 1999). Available at http://banking.senate.gov/99_03hrg/032599/boucher.htm [3/14/2003].

11 147 Cong. Rec. S2374 (2001) (statement of Sen.