In this paper we focus on the reform’s welfare effects using the calibrated general equilibrium
framework for household borrowing from Campbell and Hercowitz (2006). This
combines trade between a patient saver and an impatient borrower with an equity requirement
on housing and consumer durable goods typical of collateralized loan contracts. The
model has a simple structure, but it captures the main features of the distribution of debt
and financial assets across households in the US economy. Households in the first-to-ninth
deciles of the wealth distribution owed 73.0 percent of total household debt in 1962, and 73.4
percent in 2001. Households in the tenth decile held 54.2 percent of total financial assets in
1962 and 72.8 percent in 2001. Hence, a large fraction of households owe debt to a small
fraction of households. The model’s equilibrium resembles this in an extreme way. The
borrower owes all the debt to the saver.