This paper explores the problems and processes that led to the birth of consumer bankruptcy in continental Europe, a process that began in Denmark in January 1972 and culminated with the adoption of the Danish consumer debt adjustment act, Gældssaneringslov, on May 9, 1984. While this law is...

This is a chapter from a forthcoming book on the treatment of former entrepreneurs in the Dutch personal insolvency law (the Wsnp). To contribute a comparative perspective, this chapter contrasts the Dutch law and practice with developments in the United States, England and Wales, Germany,...

In 2011, the World Bank initiated its first-ever examination of the policies and characteristics of effective insolvency systems for individuals (natural persons). This paper describes the two-year process that led to the publication of the World Bank's landmark Report on the Treatment of the...

Despite its traditionally “tight” social and legal culture, Singapore recently loosened its personal bankruptcy rules significantly. This reform paralleled quite similar moves in the West in recent decades, but it represents a watershed in Asian regulation of the challenges of rising...

The first three years of operation of the new Russian personal bankruptcy procedure reveal a troubling flaw common to such new regimes: While the law on the books suggests a permissive and effective relief delivery procedure, the law in action has seen the vast majority of debtors barred from...

This Article takes advantage of a rare double opportunity to break new ground in commercial, consumer, and comparative law. First, it offers one of the first detailed analyses of key elements of the new U.S. consumer bankruptcy reform law, which will go into effect on October 17, 2005. Second,...

Comparative analyses of the treatment of excessive consumer debt are more relevant today than ever before, particularly given the recent overhaul of U.S. consumer bankruptcy and rapid developments in several new European consumer bankruptcy systems. This article is the next in a series designed...

In this paper, I draw on the insights of behavioral economics to explain the rise of consumer debt and analyze the potential of several emerging European consumer debt relief systems in preventing excessive consumer borrowing. First, I submit that behavioral economics offers compelling...

To add another enlightening dimension to current U.S. consumer bankruptcy reform debate, this Article describes the consumer provisions of the new German Insolvency Act. It reports on Germany's rising consumer debt problem and the various ways in which German debtor-creditor law failed to...