We study the drivers of financial distress using a large-scale field experiment that offered randomly selected borrowers a combination of (i) immediate payment reductions to target short-run liquidity constraints and (ii) delayed debt write-downs to target long-run debt constraints. We identify the separate effects of the payment reductions and debt write-downs using variation from both the experiment and cross-sectional differences in treatment intensity. We find that the debt write-downs significantly improved both financial and labor market outcomes despite not taking effect for three to five years. In sharp contrast, there were no positive effects of the more immediate payment reductions. These results run counter to the widespread view that financial distress is largely the result of short-run constraints.

中文翻译：

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有针对性的债务减免与财务困境的根源：来自不良信用卡借款人的实验证据

我们使用大型现场实验研究了财务困境的驱动因素，该实验为随机选择的借款人提供了以下两种组合：（i）立即减少付款以应对短期流动性约束，以及（ii）延迟债务减记以应对长期债务约束。我们利用实验强度和横截面差异来确定减少付款和债务减记的单独影响。我们发现，尽管债务减记在三到五年内没有生效，但债务减记仍显着改善了金融和劳动力市场的成果。与之形成鲜明对比的是，立即减少付款没有积极影响。这些结果与普遍认为财务困境在很大程度上是短期约束的结果背道而驰。