Bankrupt in America : a history of debtors, their creditors, and the law in the twentieth century / Mary Eschelbach Hansen and Bradley A. Hansen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hansen, Mary E., author.

Hansen, Bradley A., 1963- author.

Series:

Markets and governments in economic history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bankruptcy--United States--History--20th century.

Bankruptcy.

History.

United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 222 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2020.

Summary:

"In Bankrupt in America, Mary and Brad Hansen show that examination of how Americans have used bankruptcy law and the history of the law itself offers important perspective on the history of bankruptcy in America. Using new statistical and documentary evidence, they illustrate the cycles of interaction between bankruptcy law's use and its own evolution. The authors first offer a broad overview of the laws at various levels governing the collection of debt and position their research in the literature on bankruptcy. They establish the need for a framework that integrates various lines of thought, and introduce of the methods of their approach, which incorporates new institutional economics and cliometrics, that is, the incorporation of econometric data analysis. They then illustrate the general path to bankruptcy by discussing the series of decisions that creditors and debtors make at every stage and how various formal and informal institutions influence these decisions. The core of the book will comprise a generally chronological narrative from 1898, when the first major federal bankruptcy law was enacted to an end point of 2005. Hansen and Hansen reach novel conclusions about causes and consequences of bankruptcy and raise nuances in the relationship between bankruptcy rates and economic growth. For instance, while higher bankruptcy rates are usually considered a negative, the authors show that higher bankruptcy may actually signal economic growth if it is due to an expansion of credit markets. Further, the authors contribute to our understanding of what drives differences in bankruptcy rates among states by illustrating the influence of the broader legal framework. Ultimately, this work find that long-run growth in personal bankruptcy is the result of growth in credit and that the study of legal governance provides useful viewpoints from which to draw out patterns in bankruptcy"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

The intended and unintended consequences of the 1898 Bankruptcy Act

An emphasis on workout rather than liquidation

Personal bankruptcy after World War II

The renegotiation of the relationship between consumers and their creditors

The triumph of the consumer creditor

Conclusion and Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780226679563

022667956X

OCLC:

1110656875