Tipping Points: Understanding the Impact of Debt on Household Financial Well Being

Abstract

In a joint conference with the St. Louis Federal Reserve, Center for Household Financial Stability, we examine the micro-economics and demographic of household debt in America.

Special Report

Tipping Points: Mapping and Understanding the Impact of Debt on Household Financial Well-Being and Economic Growth 

Original Conference Held:

June 9, 2016 

The Private Debt Project and the Center for Household Financial Stability of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank are pleased to present here the papers from their conference on, “Tipping Points: Mapping and Understanding the Impact of Debt on Household Financial Well-Being and Economic Growth.” The Conference was the first of two research symposia focusing on the economics of household debt in the United States. The overall purpose of this joint effort is to advance a better understanding of when debt reaches a “tipping point” for different households and for the economy as a whole—i.e., when it moves from being a positive contribution to household financial well-being to a negative drag on well-being and when it moves from making a positive contribution to economic growth to being a threat to growth.