AMERICAN POLITICS & PUBLIC POLICY WORKSHOP
Abstract: Borrowing has become the American way of life. From credit and debit cards to student, auto, mortgage, and payday loans, most of us rely on financing to pay for everything from a cup of coffee to a college education. Thus, credit and its associated debt are a critical pillar of the American welfare state. While access to credit can provide resources that help Americans afford daily necessities, build assets, and achieve social mobility, it comes with a steep cost: upwards of 20 trillion dollars in consumer debt that disproportionately burdens low-income and racially minoritized borrowers. Recognizing the perilous economic consequences stemming from mounting debt, policymakers across levels of government have begun to pursue a range of programs beyond traditional bankruptcy to alleviate debt for vulnerable households. Yet, we know little about the political dynamics that shape public support for these efforts. This project explores the emerging politics of U.S. consumer debt relief policy, examining the drivers of support for debt relief and their implications for a new frontier of policy innovation to combat financial hardship.
Mallory SoRelle is an Assistant Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Her research and teaching explore how public policies are produced by, and critically how they reproduce, socioeconomic and political inequality in the United States. She focuses primarily on issues like consumer financial protection and access to civil justice that fundamentally shape the welfare of marginalized communities yet are often overlooked by scholars of the welfare state because they are not traditional redistributive programs.
Mallory is the author of Democracy Declined: The Failed Politics of Consumer Financial Protection (University of Chicago Press, 2020), which explores the political response—by policymakers, public interest groups, and ordinary Americans—to one of the most consequential economic policy issues in the United States: consumer credit and financial regulation.
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