Monday, July 6, 2009

Bankruptcy rates

Utah and Tennessee have the worst bankruptcy rates among the 50 states.
The knee jerk reaction of the media is to claim that the situation is a reflection on the people, i.e., Mormons and redneck evangelicals. However, a new study shows that the bankruptcy rates are a reflection of local government policies rather than people.

2 comments:

Brian said...

I presume you are referring the the article by BYU published on June 23. Utah was in the top 4 back in 2004 as well but the research I did on "2008 Bankruptcy rates by state" doesn't list Utah in the top 12.

But Bankruptcy filings (per capita) (most recent) by state:

#1 Tennessee: 1.099 per 1,000 people
#2 Georgia: 0.953 per 1,000 people
#3 Alabama: 0.809 per 1,000 people
#4 Michigan: 0.661 per 1,000 people
#5 Arkansas: 0.643 per 1,000 people
#6 Indiana: 0.609 per 1,000 people
#7 Kentucky: 0.542 per 1,000 people
#8 Mississippi: 0.538 per 1,000 people
#9 Missouri: 0.534 per 1,000 people
#10 Ohio: 0.512 per 1,000 people
#11 Illinois: 0.482 per 1,000 people
#12 Louisiana: 0.455 per 1,000 people

Alan said...

Yes, it was based on the article. I imagine there are various lists 'out there' and it may depend on whose list one is using.