“Revealed preferences” is a great term from economics. It means pay attention to what actors do, not to what they say. Professor Katherine Porter has put together a fascinating study of bankruptcy and the credit industry in her new paper, “Bankrupt Profits: The Credit Industry’s Business Model for Post-Bankruptcy Lending.” She uses revealed preferences to inform the debates on bankruptcy abuse. She says, in effect, stop listening to what the credit industry says about the opportunism or moral slackness of people who file for bankruptcy. Instead, look at how the card issuers treat people who are bankrupt.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1250624