Debt Relief or Exit: The Long-Term Effects of Forex Loans on Latvian Households

Q2 Social Sciences Critical Housing Analysis Pub Date : 2022-01-01 DOI:10.13060/23362839.2022.9.1.540

A. Saulitis

引用次数: 1

Abstract

The stubborn decision of the Latvian government to join the eurozone at any cost put a great burden on Latvian households after the crisis of 2008. Nevertheless, no popular protest movement emerged to change the course of this decision. This study discusses why Latvians undertook individual strategies to cope with the forex loan crisis. Particularly, I look at the choice between formal debt relief procedures and emigration as alternative individual strategies for defaulted debtors. These programmes have not reversed the negative migration trends or significantly decreased the number of Latvian households in arrears. Debt discharge is mainly attainable for wealthy individuals who are able to mobilise their financial and kinship resources. Worse-off debtors cannot attain debt discharge or are stigmatised during the process. Alternatively, emigration has offered a way to cope with overindebtedness and keep up with mortgages and consumer loan payments for a much larger segment of the debtor population.

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债务减免或退出:外汇贷款对拉脱维亚家庭的长期影响

拉脱维亚政府不惜一切代价加入欧元区的顽固决定，在2008年危机后给拉脱维亚家庭带来了沉重负担。然而，没有出现民众抗议运动来改变这一决定的进程。本研究探讨拉脱维亚人为甚么采取个别策略来应付外汇贷款危机。特别是，我把正式的债务减免程序和移民之间的选择作为违约债务人的替代个人策略。这些方案没有扭转不利的移徙趋势，也没有显著减少拉脱维亚拖欠会费的家庭数目。债务清偿主要是能够调动其财政和亲属资源的富人能够实现的。境况较差的债务人无法获得债务清偿，或者在此过程中蒙受耻辱。另一种选择是，移民提供了一种应对过度负债的方式，并为更大一部分债务人提供了偿还抵押贷款和消费贷款的方式。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Critical Housing Analysis Social Sciences-Sociology and Political Science

CiteScore

2.70

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Critical Housing Analysis is a peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on critical and innovative housing research. The journal was launched in January 2014 and publishes two online issues annually. Critical Housing Analysis is published by the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Critical Housing Analysis aims to provide on-line discussion space for researchers who come up with innovative, critical and challenging ideas and approaches in housing-related research. The unique function of this journal is to facilitate rapid feedback on critical and innovative ideas and methods developed by housing researchers around the world. We are especially keen to publish papers that provide: 1.Innovations in methods, theories and practices used in housing-related research. We especially welcome papers applying original research strategies (such as, mixed and interdisciplinary methods) and international comparisons with a strong sense for contextual and institutional differences. Papers should provide new and fresh research perspectives allowing a deeper understanding of housing markets, policies and systems. Innovations need to be justified but they could be “work in progress”, i.e. their findings may not yet have been fully verified. 2.Critiques of assumptions, methods and theories used in housing-related research. Such critical evaluations must be well-founded (empirically or by consistently logical argument) and convincing. However, there is no particular need to provide a solution to the problems that have been identified. 3.Critiques of applied housing practices and policies in particular cultural and institutional contexts, especially for those countries that are less represented in mainstream housing policy discourse. The critical assessment of policies must be analytical, should propose new perspectives and lead to wider policy implications.