Jay L. Zagorsky, Lois R. Lupica
The last of the open-issue pieces, A Study of Consumers'
Post-Discharge Finances: Struggles, Stasis, or Fresh-Start?,
was written by Dr. Jay L. Zagorsky and Professor Lois R.
Lupica. In this article, the authors use a large national
random sample survey to empirically study whether a bankruptcy
discharge actually serves to effectuate bankruptcy's fresh start
objective. The authors begin with an overview of available
information and research on consumer bankruptcy and then transition
into a discussion about the data set and statistical analysis used
in this study. The authors' results show that consumers
filing for bankruptcy to alleviate financial distress do eventually
experience a fresh start; however, it takes a significant amount of
time before the effect of their distress in no longer evident in
their finances.