Debt Tolerance, Gender, and the Great Recession

We pool four Surveys of Consumer Finances to measure the extent to which tolerance of debt is influenced by macroeconomic events (the Great Recession and events in early adulthood), personal experiences of negative economic shocks (unemployment and difficulty making payments), and gender. Recent personal experience is the best predictor of debt tolerance. Unemployment and difficulty paying bills increase tolerance of debt to meet living expenses by 20%–30%. A woman who has one of these negative experiences is substantially less likely than a man to approve of debt used to buy luxuries. While neither recent macroeconomic events nor macroeconomic conditions in young adulthood affect debt tolerance, there is some evidence of a gendered response to the Great Recession. As women observed the negative effects of the mortgage crisis and the Great Recession on other women, it reinforced their belief that it is okay for people like them to use credit to bridge gaps in income.