January 27, 2026
Hui (Grace) Wang on student loans and labor supply
How do US student loans affect household decisions to work?
Hui (Grace) Wang is an Assistant Professor of Finance at Bentley University. She sat down for an interview at the 2026 AEA poster session to talk about what impact the non-dischargeability of student loans has on household labor supply decisions. She found that non-dischargeability mutes opportunities for households to reduce labor supply at the expense of creditors. However, this is partially undone by Income-Driven Repayment plans, which allow households to “pseudo-discharge” student debt for a fraction of their income.