Recent scholarship has identified a shift in the demographic profile of Australians declaring bankruptcy. In the context of a marked increase in overall rates of personal insolvency, bankruptcy has become increasingly prevalent among ‘middle class' Australians. Against this background, the...

For two reasons, the conventional wisdom is that the poor are not heavy users of the insolvency system. First, creditors are reluctant to extend credit to the poor because the risks of non-payment are high. Not having been able to borrow, the poor are not over-indebted and are therefore not in...