Captive finance subsidiaries create a channel for trade policy to affect consumer credit. Examining the impact of the Trump administration’s metal tariffs on captive automobile lenders, we find that consumers received higher interest rates from captive lenders after the tariffs relative to unaffected noncaptive lenders. Further, we document a disparate impact on low-income borrowers and in areas with less lending competition. Our results suggest that tariffs may impact not only the price of goods but also the financing terms of purchases. Thus, focusing solely on directly affected product prices may underestimate tariff pass-through significantly.

We use administrative payroll data to estimate the effect of the minimum wage on employment and wages. We find that both effects are nuanced. While the overall number of low-wage workers in firms declines, incumbent workers are no less likely to remain employed. We find that firms reduce employment primarily through hiring, and there is significant heterogeneity across the nontradable and tradable sectors. For wages, we find modest spillovers extending up to $2.50 above the minimum wage. Spillovers accrue to both incumbent workers and new hires, but only within firms that employ a significant fraction of low-wage workers.

Using detailed data for U.S. homeowners, we document a negative, nonlinear relation between the loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of homeowners’ primary residence and their labor income. Consistent with high LTV individuals experiencing constrained mobility, we find stronger effects among subprime, liquidity- constrained individuals and those living in regions with limited alternative local employment opportunities and strict noncompete law enforcement. Though high LTV individuals are less likely to move across MSAs, they are more likely to change jobs without changing their residence. We find no effects among similar neighboring renters employed at the same firm and with a similar job tenure.

We study the impact of index investing on firm performance by examining the link between commodity indices and firms that use index commodities. Around 2004, commodity index investing dramatically increased. This event is referred to as the financialization of commodity markets. Following financialization, firms that use index commodities make worse production decisions, earn 40% lower profits, and have 6% higher costs. Consistent with a feedback channel in which market participants learn from prices, our results suggest that index investing distorts the price signal, thereby generating a negative externality that impedes firms’ ability to make production decisions. Received March 31, 2017; editorial decision July 5, 2018 by Editor Itay Goldstein.

We combine state minimum wage changes with individual‐level income and credit data to estimate the effect of wage gains on the debt of low‐wage workers. In the three years following a $0.88 minimum wage increase, low‐wage workers experience a $2,712 income increase and a $856 decrease in debt. The entire decline in debt comes from less student loan borrowing among enrolled college students. Credit constraints, buffer‐stock behavior, and other rational channels cannot explain the reduction in student debt. Our results are consistent with students perceiving a utility cost of borrowing student debt arising from mental accounting.