Personal insolvency in the 21st century : a comparative analysis of the US and Europe / Iain Ramsay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ramsay, Iain, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bankruptcy--Europe.

Bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy--United States.

Debtor and creditor.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (221 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Portland, Oregon : Hart Publishing, 2017.

Summary:

Since 1979 the world has witnessed a remarkable cycle of personal insolvency law reform. Changes in capitalist economies, financial crises and political interest groups all contributed to this cycle of reform. This book examines the role of interest groups and distinct narratives in shaping reform in different countries while drawing attention to the role of timing, path dependency and unintended consequences in the development of personal insolvency law. The book presents case studies of personal insolvency law in the US, France, Sweden, and England and Wales. It then analyses how, following the Great Recession of 2008, international financial institutions paid greater attention to the significance of household debt in contributing to financial instability and the role of individual insolvency law in providing a fresh start. Personal insolvency law reform became part of EU responses to the eurozone crisis and the EU has proposed harmonisation of individual insolvency law to promote entrepreneurialism. This book examines the extent to which these developments represent an emerging international commonsense about personal insolvency and its relationship to neo-liberalism. Finally, this book discusses whether the international emergence of individual personal insolvency law represents a progressive step or a band-aid for the costs of neo-liberal policies, where a significant number of people live close to the precipice of over-indebtedness

Contents:

1. The Rise of Personal Insolvency Law

I. Introduction

II. Explanations for Stability and Change in Personal Insolvency Law

III. Household Debt, Neo-liberalism, and Personal Insolvency Law

IV. Summary

2. US Exceptionalism?

II. The Challenge of the Wage Earner Debtor: The 1930s

III. The Wage Earner as Consumer Debtor: 1950s-1978

IV. Layering and Changing the Narrative: 1978-97

V. BAPCPA 2005-the Great Recession and the Future

VI. The Role of the State in US Bankruptcy Law

VII. Discussion

3. Drift, Conversion, and Layering: England and Wales

II. The Players in English Personal Insolvency Reform

III. Drifting-the Sad Life of the English Administration Order

IV. Conversion: The Individual Voluntary Arrangement

V. Framing the Policy Response After the Enterprise Act: Borrowing Binges

VI. Relief for the Deserving Poor: The Debt Relief Order

VII. The Great Recession and Personal Insolvency Law

VIII. Discussion

4. France: Contingency, the Role of Narratives, and the New Droit Social

II. Over-indebtedness Regulation in Context

III. The Development of the Over-indebtedness Regime

IV. Legitimating Narratives: From Active to Passive Debtor to...?

V. The Changing Institutional Landscape: Commissions, Courts, and the Law in Action

VI. Discussion

5. Sweden: The Quality of Mercy is Strained

II. Swedish Regulation of the Consumer Credit Market

III. The Development of the Swedish Debt Restructuring System

IV. Who Accesses the Swedish Debt Restructuring System?

V. Debt Counselling and the 'Enabling Welfare State'

VI. The Five-Year Plan

VII. Protection Against Home Eviction and Mortgage Foreclosure

6. After the Crisis: Towards an International 'Common Sense' in Personal Insolvency Law?

II. International Initiatives: After the Great Recession

III. European Union Consumer Credit Policy and Personal Insolvency

IV. EU Personal Insolvency Policy after the Crisis

V. EU Narratives

VI. Bankruptcy Tourism, Regulatory Competition, and Regulatory Learning

VII. Towards a European Paradigm?

VIII. Conclusion

7. Conclusion: The Future of Personal Insolvency in the Twenty-First Century

I. Influential Interest Groups

II. Contemporary Narratives of Personal Insolvency

III. Technocracy and Democracy in Personal Insolvency Reform

IV. The Limits of Individual Insolvency?

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9781509932177

1509932178

9781509901005

1509901000

OCLC:

967457391