Kartik B. Athreya

The Effects of Macroeconomic Shocks: Household Financial Distress Matters
With José Mustre-del-Río, Juan M Sánchez, and Ryan Mather
The Review of Financial Studies, Volume 38, Issue 2, February 2025, Pages 564–604

Incarceration, Employment, and Earnings: Dynamics and Differences
With Grey Gordon, John Bailey Jones, and Urvi Neelakantan
Review of Economic Dynamics, Volume 51, December 2023, Pages 677-697
Previous Version:  Working Paper, July 2021, No. 21-11

Stock Market Participation: The Role of Human Capital
With Felicia Ionescu and Urvi Neelakantan
Review of Economic Dynamics, Vol. 47, January 2023: 1-18

Risk, the College Premium, and Aggregate Human Capital Investment
With Janice Eberly
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Vol. 13, April 2021: 168-213
Previous Version:  Working Paper, March 2013, No. 13-02R

The Persistence of Financial Distress
With José Mustre-del-Río and Juan M. Sanchez
The Review of Financial Studies, Vol. 32, October 2019: 3851–83
Previous Version:  Working Paper, November 2017, No. 17-14R

Bankruptcy and Delinquency in a Model of Unsecured Debt
With Juan M. Sanchez, Xuan S. Tam, and Eric R. Young
International Economic Review, Vol. 59, May 2018: 593-623
Previous Version:  Working Paper, September 2016, No. 16-12

Does Redistribution Increase Output? The Centrality of Labor Supply
With Andrew Owens and Felipe F. Schwartzman
Quantitative Economics, Vol. 8, November 2017: 761-808
Previous Version:  Working Paper, March 2014, No. 14-04R

Labor Market Upheaval, Default Regulations, and Consumer Debt
With Juan M. Sanchez, Xuan S. Tam, and Eric R. Young
Review of Economic Dynamics, Vol. 18, January 2015: 32-52

A Quantitative Theory of Information and Unsecured Credit
With Xuan S. Tam and Eric R. Young
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Vol. 4, July 2012: 153-83

Credit and Self-Employment
With Ahmet Akyol
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Vol. 35, March 2011: 363-85
Previous Version:  Working Paper, April 2009, No. 09-5

Self-Employment Rates and Business Size: The Roles of Occupational Choice and Credit Market Frictions
With Ahmet Akyol
Annals of Finance, Vol. 5, June 2009: 495-519

Unsecured Credit Markets Are Not Insurance Markets
With Xuan S. Tam and Eric R. Young
Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 56, January 2009: 83-103

Default, Insurance, and Debt over the Life-Cycle
Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 55, May 2008: 752-74

Fresh Start or Head Start? Uniform Bankruptcy Exemptions and Welfare
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Vol. 30, November 2006: 2051-79
Previous Version:  Working Paper, May 2003, No. 03-3R

Unsecured Debt with Public Insurance: From Bad to Worse
With Nicole B. Simpson
Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 53, May 2006: 797-825
Previous Version:  Working Paper, November 2003, No. 03-14R

Risky Higher Education and Subsidies
With Ahmet Akyol
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Vol. 29, June 2005: 979-1023
Previous Version:  Working Paper, August 2003, No. 03-2

Welfare Implications of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1999
Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 49, November 2002: 1567-95


Short Papers

Measuring the Headwinds to Black Self-Employment
With Ahmet Akyol, Simon Farbman, and Urvi Neelakantan
Economics Letters, Vol. 260, February 2026


Books and Book Chapters

"Student Loan Borrowing and Repayment Decisions: Risks and Contingencies"
With Christopher Herrington, Felicia Ionescu and Urvi Neelakantan
in The Routledge Handbook of the Economics of Education, edited by Brian P. McCall, Routledge, 2021

Big Ideas in Macroeconomics: A Non-Technical View, MIT Press, 2013


Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Understanding Living Wills
With Arantxa Jarque
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Third Quarter 2015, Vol. 101, No. 3

Land of Opportunity: Economic Mobility in the United States
With Jessie Romero
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Second Quarter 2015, Vol. 101, No. 2

Systemic Risk and the Pursuit of Efficiency
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, First Quarter 2015, Vol. 101, No. 1

Loan Guarantees for Consumer Credit Markets
With Xuan S. Tam and Eric R. Young
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Fourth Quarter 2014, Vol. 100, No. 4

Debt Default and the Insurance of Labor Income Risk
With Xuan S. Tam and Eric R. Young
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Fourth Quarter 2012, Vol. 98, No. 4

The Cost of Unanticipated Financial Shocks: Two Examples
With Urvi Neelakantan
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Fourth Quarter 2011, Vol. 97, No. 4

Earned Income Tax Credit Recipients: Income, Marginal Tax Rates, Wealth, and Credit Constraints
With Devin Reilly and Nicole B. Simpson
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Third Quarter 2010, Vol. 96, No. 3

Systemic Risk and the Pursuit of Efficiency
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Annual Report, 2009

Consumption Smoothing and the Measured Regressivity of Consumption Taxes
With Devin Reilly
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Winter 2009, Vol. 94, No. 1

Credit Access, Labor Supply, and Consumer Welfare
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Winter 2008, Vol. 94, No. 1

Implications of Some Alternatives to Capital Income Taxation
With A. Waddle
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Winter 2007, Vol. 93, No. 1

Credit Exclusion in Quantitative Models of Bankruptcy: Does It Matter?
With H. Janicki
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Winter 2006, Vol. 92, No. 1

Equilibrium Models of Personal Bankruptcy: A Survey
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Spring 2005: Vol. 91, No. 2

Shame As It Ever Was: Stigma and Personal Bankruptcy
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Spring 2004: Vol. 90, No. 2

Unemployment Insurance and Personal Bankruptcy
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Spring 2003: Vol. 89, No. 2

The Growth of Unsecured Credit: Are We Better Off?
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly, Summer 2001: Vol. 87, No. 3