I study how bankruptcy law firm advertisements affect household credit, exploiting the borders of local TV advertisement media markets. I document a significant advertising effect on filing rates and subsequently show that ad exposure is associated with better financial outcomes. I then characterize how ad-induced filers are different from existing filers in terms of case, financial, and credit variables. I find that ad-induced filers are more likely to receive a discharge, file with lawyer representation, and be first-time filers. I interpret these findings as evidence that bankruptcy law firm advertisements help mitigate frictions in the bankruptcy decision.

We study the corporate-loan pricing decisions of a major, systemic bank during the Greek financial crisis. A unique aspect of our data set is that we observe both the actual interest rate and the “break-even rate” (BE rate) of each loan, as computed by the bank’s own loan-pricing department (in effect, the loan’s marginal cost). We document that low-BE-rate (safer) borrowers are charged significant markups, whereas high-BE-rate (riskier) borrowers are charged smaller and even negative markups. We rationalize this de facto cross-subsidization through the lens of a dynamic model featuring depressed collateral values, impaired capital-market access, and limit pricing.