We explore in the French personal bankruptcy process the ways that judges perform with the possibility to discharge all the personal debts in exchange of liquidation of their assets. In particular, we give some empirical results on the determinants of judges' selection between debtors whose...

In this paper, we test the characteristics of bankruptcy procedures that are likely to generate recoveries for the creditors. Such recoveries are related to the performance of bankruptcy law as they stem from the procedures' ability to preserve the value of bankrupt firms, as basis of creditors'...

This empirical paper investigates the path to the resolution of financial distress for a sample of small and medium French firms in default, in particular on the decision between bankruptcy and informal (out-of-court) negotiations. The procedure is depicted as a sequential game in which...

This paper investigates the determinants of the arbitration taking place after a corporate defaults. Two ways of resolving financial distress are conceivable: either the creditors privately renegotiate with the debtor, or a formal bankruptcy procedure is triggered. This arbitration depends on...

We test the characteristics of bankruptcy procedures that are likely to generate recoveries for the creditors. We build 132 original legal indexes accounting for the main functions of bankruptcy law that were highlighted by Hart (2000). Namely, we measure the accessibility of the procedure,...

This paper provides evidence on the value creation of bankruptcy procedures that belong to different legal systems (French civil law, German civil law, and British common law). Using a sample of 900 hand-collected corporate bankruptcy files, we find that France and Germany show quite similar...

This research investigates how legal sanctions prevailing under bankruptcy impact on debt contracting and on investing decision, when companies may engage faulty management. Unlike most papers considering a passive behavior of the bank in case of default of the borrower, the creditor and the...

In this paper, we test the characteristics of bankruptcy procedures that are likely to generate recoveries for the creditors. Such recoveries are related to the performance of bankruptcy law as they stem from the procedures' ability to preserve the value of bankrupt firms, as basis of creditors'...

This paper provides evidence on the value creation of bankruptcy procedures that belong to different legal systems (French civil law, German civil law, and British common law). Using a sample of 900 hand-collected corporate bankruptcy files, we find that France and Germany show quite similar...