The Opportunity Cost of Debt Aversion

We provide evidence of the existence of debt aversion and its negative implications for financial decisions. In a new experimental design where subjects are assigned debt randomly, we quantify the opportunity cost of subjects' debt-biased decisions. One-third of our participants neglect high returns and focus instead on debt repayments. In addition, borrowing to invest is 50 percent less likely when it leads to indebtedness. On average, participants perceive \$1 less in debt as equivalent to \$1.03 in savings. Hence, a debt-averse agent will undertake a 10 percent guaranteed investment only if the cost of borrowing does not exceed 6.80 percent.

本研究提供了债务厌恶（debt aversion）现象存在及其对金融决策产生负面影响的相关证据。在一项被试被随机分配债务条件的全新实验设计中，我们量化了受债务厌恶偏好影响的决策所带来的机会成本。本研究中有三分之一的被试会忽视高收益投资，转而优先偿还债务。此外，当借款行为会导致自身负债时，被试选择借款投资的概率会降低50%。平均而言，被试会将减少1美元的债务感知为等同于增加1.03美元的储蓄。因此，债务厌恶型主体仅在借款成本不超过6.80%的前提下，才会选择进行年化收益率10%的保本投资。