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Personal bankruptcy exempt property refers to the property retained to ensure future survival and development to safeguard the basic life, career development, and other rights and interests of the debtor and dependents. It is a strong solution to the problems of the right to survival and development of the honest but unfortunate debtor, among other things. This thesis handles the Personal Bankruptcy Regulations of Shenzhen, the personal bankruptcy judicial documents, and judicial cases issued by the courts as samples and comprehensively analyzes the problems in the judicial practice of exempting property from personal bankruptcy in China. It innovatively proposes that the scope of recognition of exempted property adopts "inflation as the main approach" and sets up exceptions to protect the interests of creditors and debtors through the principle of "balance of interests"; Construct a recognition standard that "only specifies the types of property" and sets regional limits, protecting and limiting the rights of debtors under the principle of moderate protection; Implement the construction model of exemption property that combines "enumeration" and "generalization", and under the guidance of the "flexibility principle", establish a scope of exemption property that is in line with China's national conditions. This study provides a new sample for international comparative research on the system of personal bankruptcy exempt property. It gives a new direction for exploring the judicial recognition of personal bankruptcy exempt property in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rich literature uses law and social science methods to better understand household financial distress and overindebtedness both inside and outside of bankruptcy. This scholarship contributes to several ongoing scholarly conversations, such as those on income and wealth disparities across race and class, how people live in circumstances of financial precarity, why people turn to the legal system to solve their problems, and how to improve access to justice so people can get the help they need. We first review the current literature about who files bankruptcy, the contributors to people's need to file bankruptcy, what happens to them in bankruptcy court, and what happens after their bankruptcy cases conclude. We then outline a research agenda of low-hanging fruit that will contribute to broader sociological and sociolegal research agendas, including economic mobility, aging, gender studies, health studies, family studies, social psychology, and policy work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Financial & Economic Law Review is the property of Angle Publishing Co., Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We examine the effects of the bankruptcy benefit and adverse events on the consumer bankruptcy decision. Employing zero‐inflated ordered probit models and a unique longitudinal survey of approximately 66,000 individuals in Great Britain, we find that consumers are more likely to enter into bankruptcy proceedings when the bankruptcy benefit increases and when they become unemployed. We find that the effects of adverse events differ across bankruptcy types. Individuals who experience the onset of health problems are more likely to choose reorganization of debts (i.e., income gleaning), whereas individuals who get divorced or separated are more likely to prefer the discharge of debts (i.e., fresh start). We also examine access to credit after bankruptcy. We find that individuals are excluded from the credit markets post‐bankruptcy and the impact differs across bankruptcy types. Credit exclusion for fresh starters is dramatic, swift but short‐lived, while for income gleaners, it is gradual, slow but lasts longer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to develop a multi-factor decision system predicting insolvency risk for natural persons with the use of fuzzy sets. Considering that the financial situation of households is affected by various endogenous and exogenous factors, the main assumption of this study is that the system for predicting financial difficulties should not be limited to the use of only a few financial variables concerning consumers, but also include variables describing the environment. The author proposes a system consisting of three different forecasting models that connect the macroeconomic and microeconomic environments. It monitors the economic situation of households by also identifying those environmental variables, which may directly, or indirectly, endanger the consumer, such as unemployment rate (job market situation), inflation and interest rates, exchange rates, or economic situation in the country (GDP growth rate, the dynamics of retail sales, etc.). Moreover, the created cause-and-effect tool is in the form of a flexible application that can be easily adapted to changing economic conditions. Another unique feature of the study is the proposed use of newly developed ratios in household finance, similar to that in financial ratio analysis, which is commonly used in corporate finance. The proposed ratios demonstrated high predictive abilities. The paper also identifies the predictive capabilities of selected macroeconomic variables from the perspective of their impact on the risk of consumer insolvency. The research relies on four samples consisting of a total of 2400 consumers from Taiwan and Poland. The author created three forecasting models separately for the South-East Asian and Central European regions, and two multi-factor systems, each consisting of 1260 decision rules. The findings clearly showed that fuzzy logic is a significantly more effective method compared to traditional models based on classical logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using exogenous changes in the personal bankruptcy treatment of student loans as well as the level of student debt, we find that student debt has a negative effect on household retirement savings. This negative relation is present for younger and older individuals, and is larger for the latter group, indicating lower levels of retirement savings for precisely those who can least afford it. We also find that student debt is related to greater borrowing on retirement plans. Households with more student debt expect to have insufficient retirement income and are less able to plan financially for the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online flash sales (OFS) have gained significant popularity in recent times. Interestingly, despite encountering service failures such as server errors, stockouts, and website crashes due to heavy online traffic, many consumers opt to re-participate in future OFSs offered by the same provider. Our study delves into the underlying reasons for such behavior. We formulated and tested our model based on scarcity theory and consumer deal proneness literature. We employed a 2 (deal type: planned vs. incidental) × 2 (consumer motivation: utilitarian vs. hedonic) between-subjects design. We used SPSS PROCESS Macro to test the moderation and moderated mediation effects. Findings indicate that deal-prone consumers tend to overlook service failures and choose to re-participate in online flash sales. Consumer competition mediates the relationship between deal proneness (DP) and re-participation intention (RPI). The effect of deal proneness on re-participation intention is decreased in incidental OFS compared to planned OFS, with the indirect effect moderated by the deal type. Additionally, consumption motivation moderates the main effect, with hedonic motivation significantly attenuating the effect compared to utilitarian motivation. Our research makes a significant contribution to the literature by highlighting the boundary conditions—namely deal type and consumer motivation—that influence the impact of deal proneness on re-participation intention in the context of OFS. This study offers a process-oriented view, highlighting the mediating role of consumer competition in the OFS landscape. We also illuminate new avenues by examining the impact of consumer motivation on the link between deal proneness and re-participation intention. Specifically, our findings related to the moderating effect of deal type present a fresh perspective to the existing body of knowledge. This study provides valuable insights for practitioners, particularly concerning segment targeting and the strategic incorporation of competition to bolster overall OFS participation. Moreover, our research underscores the importance for online retailers to pay heightened attention to service failures during incidental OFS, as these can significantly undermine their profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is focused on the reentry/resettlement problems that are faced by ex-prisoners in the Czech Republic (CR). Findings are based on semi-structured interviews with 26 ex-prisoners and 30 social workers who provide social services in prisons and after the release. Based on the data, which were coded inductively employing qualitative content analysis, several post-prison issues emerged: (1) material deprivation and insecurity regarding housing, subsistence, and stable employment; (2) debts and enforcement proceedings; (3) prisonisation effect; (4) health issues; (5) relationships with family and significant others; (6) drug abuse; (7) meaningful leisure time. Particularly, more attention was given to housing, subsistence, stable employment, and debts and enforcement proceedings because, compared to other countries, these issues have their specifics in the CR. Findings, interpreted through the optics of intersectionality, suggest that the Czech social policies regarding ex-prisoners are focused on a one or selection of factors, instead on the complex interplay of them, as well as not properly targeted and delivered in the right time. To improve the situation, the better system of social services financing that would address the ex-prisoners' complex needs must be implemented along with the housing first policy and more accessible personal bankruptcy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Soochow University Law Edition is the property of Soochow University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

It has become crucial to have an early prediction model that provides accurate assurance for users about the financial situation of consumers. Recent studies have focused on predicting corporate bankruptcies and credit defaults, not personal bankruptcies. Due to this situation, the present study fills the literature gap by comparing different machine learning algorithms to predict personal bankruptcy. The main objective of the study is to examine the usefulness of machine learning models such as SVM, random forest, AdaBoost, XGBoost, LightGBM, and CatBoost in forecasting personal bankruptcy. The study relies on two samples of households (learning and testing) from the Survey of Consumer Finances, which was conducted in the United States. Among the models estimated, LightGBM, CatBoost, and XGBoost showed the highest effectiveness. The most important variables used in the models are income, refusal to grant credit, delays in the repayment of liabilities, the revolving debt ratio, and the housing debt ratio.

This paper argues that rising household indebtedness is associated with the decline of organised labour. Over the last decades, the financial system is increasingly financing working-class households, and recent research shows that indebted employees become more risk-averse at the workplace on the fear of losing their job and defaulting. Thus, since union formation or participation is commonly punished with redundancy, rising household indebtedness is likely to be associated with the aggregate reduction in unionisation. This study examines this argument for a high-, a mid-, and low-unionisation economy over the period 1965–2018: Sweden, Japan, and South Korea, respectively. Regression analysis provides robust support in favour of this argument. The results also suggest that financial regulation and social norms about personal insolvency matter for the size of the effects of household debt on unionisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ongoing legislative responses to the impacts of the pandemic have prompted many countries to evaluate whether their bankruptcy systems remain fit for purpose. Moreover, the current climate highlights the importance of data‐driven policy, which the literature identifies as a deficiency of bankruptcy regimes. In Australia, the 2015 reform proposals to reduce the default discharge period from 3 years to 1 year are currently being revised amidst stakeholder concern about potential abuse and repeat bankrupts. Although an extensive body of literature exists on 'repeat filers' in the USA, there has been no equivalent study in Australia. Using our data of 153,526 bankruptcies between 2007 and 2021, we conducted a novel application of survival analysis to predict the probability of a repeat bankruptcy comparing business and non‐business groups. The results show that this probability peaked in both male and females with non‐business‐related administrations irrespective of client's age, employment and relationship status. These findings are important as they identify the prospects that certain bankrupt groups have higher rates of repeat bankruptcy, which can inform strategies to improve their survival rate. A significance of our study is the development of a high‐quality longitudinal dataset that facilitates the extension of the data models and allows easy updates about targeted questions involving bankruptcy‐related policy shifts and impacts on sub‐populations. This methodological approach will enable regulators and insolvency experts to address concerns of repeat bankruptcy to guide policy, evaluate reform and extend the evidence base in other jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article delves into the intricate determinants of personal bankruptcies in Poland between 2018 and 2023. Leveraging a comprehensive regression analysis, the research aims to identify key factors contributing to bankruptcy trends within this period. The findings unveil a complex interplay of factors influencing personal bankruptcies, encompassing borrowing behaviors, inflation rates, unemployment levels, economic activity, and, interestingly, average salary levels. Notably, a positive correlation is observed between personal bankruptcies and average salaries, suggesting a potential link between rising incomes and increased financial vulnerability. These findings highlight the multifaceted nature of bankruptcy determinants and underscore the need for multifaceted policy interventions toaddress the complex issue of personal bankruptcies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Households in developing economies have greater access to formal credit today than at any point in history, owing to the global expansion of microfinance and recent innovations in consumer finance, such as digital lending. While this has improved the ability to smooth consumption and invest in productive activities, it has also raised concerns about over-indebtedness. Against this background, this article reviews and extends the literature on debt relief for households in developing countries. We begin by laying out a simple stylized model that illustrates the costs and benefits of debt relief and use the model to guide our review of the evidence on various relief policies, such as debt forbearance, debt forgiveness, and personal bankruptcy. We additionally present survey evidence from a population of microfinance and bank borrowers with recent exposure to debt relief. The results highlight that an important channel through which discretionary debt relief policies, which are common in developing countries, affect credit market outcomes is their impact on borrower expectations. The development of legal bankruptcy institutions that offer a rules-based avenue to discharge unsustainable debts can reduce such distortions and alleviate the credit market inefficiencies that have often accompanied debt relief initiatives in developing economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the predictive value of tenant stock market performance for retail real estate transaction prices. In our empirical investigation, we focus on discount and non-discount (i.e. premium and mid-tier) department stores, which represent important anchor tenant groups in general-purpose shopping centres. We first show that the industry-level stock market performance of non-discount department stores, but not discount department stores, predicts retail real estate investor sentiment and total returns in the next quarter. Explanations for our findings include the struggles of non-discount department stores with changing consumer preferences, e-commerce, and discount competition, which affect their credit, bankruptcy, and store closure risk. Using a sample of 5,507 general-purpose shopping centre transactions, we then provide evidence that the stock market performance of non-discount department stores in the previous quarter has a positive relationship with transaction prices for shopping centres in lower quality locations (suburban) and of lower property quality. The stock market performance of discount department stores only has predictive value for transaction prices of malls with the highest risk to investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the potential adaptation of a modular scheme of arrangement, commonly used in corporate insolvency, to consumer bankruptcy proceedings. It examines the benefits and challenges inherent in such a transition, the study proposes a consumer scheme of arrangement, focusing on asset-based relief with a prototype centered on car ownership. It delves into critical issues like discharge for deficiencies, treatment of surplus equity, and the boundaries of bankruptcy law.

Purpose: The study of shame has a long tradition in intra- and inter-personal psychology. This paper aims to investigate whether consumers can experience brand shame after self-relevant consumption incidents. Specifically, this research proposes that consumers follow a complex shame-inducing process in the aftermath of unpleasant experiences involving their favorite brand. The moderating role of relational tie strength between consumers and their favorite brand existing prior to symbolic failures is examined. Design/methodology/approach: A scenario-based, online survey (n = 660) among consumers who have recently experienced a self-relevant failure with their favorite brand was conducted. Confirmatory factor analysis ensured the reliability and validity of the measurement model. For testing the conceptual model, data was analyzed by means of a moderated mediation analysis. The proposed model was tested against, among others, common method bias and alternative models. The findings were cross-validated with a scenario-based online experiment (n = 1,616). Findings: Results show that brand shame is a key mediator between customer dissatisfaction and brand anger when self-relevant, symbolic failures happen. Moreover, strong consumer-brand identification triggers brand-detrimental effects. It is shown to influence the connection between consumers' inward- (i.e. brand shame) and resulting outward-directed (i.e. brand anger) negative emotions on brands, which lead to consumer vengeance. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this research is the first to introduce the concept of situational brand shame to the literature on favorite brands. Furthermore, it shows that consumer-brand identification moderates the direct and indirect (via brand shame) unfavorable effects of failure-induced dissatisfaction on brand anger. This research adds insights to the investigation of the "love-becomes-hate" effect arising after self-relevant failures involving consumers' most preferred brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Powered by digital technologies, many peer-to-peer platforms, or what is called the sharing economy, have emerged in the past decade. Although the impact of the sharing economy has received considerable attention over the past few years, extant research has not fully documented the impact of the sharing economy on consumers, workers, industry, or society as a whole. In this study, we exploit the geographical and temporal variation in Uber's entry to examine its impact on the personal bankruptcy rate as well as on other consumer credit default rates. We empirically document the changes in personal bankruptcy filings after Uber's entry, and show that personal bankruptcy filings under Chapter 7 experience a drop of 0.047 per 1,000 people after Uber enters a county, which translates to a 3.26% reduction in quarterly bankruptcy filings. Uber's entry also leads to a reduction in Chapter 13 personal bankruptcy filings, but to a smaller degree (0.018 cases per 1,000 people per quarter). We check the validity of our estimates using business bankruptcy filings, which we find are uncorrelated with Uber's entry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the new personal insolvency laws in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, both effective in early 2023. It situates these new regimes at the tail end of a decade-long worldwide movement to address the rising household financial hardship through various forms of personal insolvency (bankruptcy) legislation. In particular, it examines the structure and statutory requirements of these two new Central Asian schemes against the backdrop of the law that inspired them both, the 2015 Russian personal insolvency law and its recent outcomes. All three systems are assessed against recommendations for international best practices for personal insolvency legislation. While the Uzbek law stands up to scrutiny quite well, being little more than a refinement of the well-structured Russian model, the Kazakh law critically deviates from the recommended path in ways that threaten to undermine the entire effort to bring relief and reinvigoration to consumers and individual entrepreneurs in an era of rising financial hardship and economic and social exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historical development of the Chinese social and economic circumstances well explains the conspicuous absence of a personal bankruptcy law regime. In the context of the rapid modernisation of the economy, there is keen interest in China, expressed across the legislature, the judiciary and the academia, in studying new global developments in personal bankruptcy law. Of particular interest has been the central role that the mechanism of discharge of residual debts plays in rehabilitating debtors in financial distress. The mechanism of discharge of residual debts enables an honest but unfortunate debtor, once their debts have been settled through bankruptcy proceedings, to make a fresh start, fully forgiven of their past indebtedness. The need for a personal bankruptcy regime embodying a residual debt discharge mechanism is widely acknowledged in China but is yet to be implemented at the national level. This article examines the historical developments in China that explain why China has been slow to recognise a mechanism of personal bankruptcy and how socio-economic circumstances have changed vastly, making the introduction of an effective and fair personal bankruptcy system a crying priority. It examines the welcome development in Shenzhen which has adopted a personal bankruptcy law highlighting the concept of making a fresh start. This article appraises the Shenzhen experience in the context of global trends in personal bankruptcy law which positively encourages the reintegration of forgiven debtors into the economy and examines how it could be used as the starting point for a nationwide legislative framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the reform of the Brazilian Consumer Protection and Defence Code in 2021. The Reform was aimed at enhancing consumer protection in credit markets at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic aggravated the problem of over-indebtedness. It highlights how Brazilian reform was inspired by European legal principles, such as "responsible credit" and measures against consumer harassment to combat over-indebtedness, as well as the French system for managing consumer bankruptcy with emphasis on "rehabilitation" or "fresh start". It focuses on the sections which were added in 2021 to the Consumer Protection and Defence Code, particularly those addressing "Prevention and Treatment of Over-Indebtedness" and "Conciliation in Over-Indebtedness". It highlights the challenges that the implementation of the reform face, emphasising the need for greater transparency in credit information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical expenses have been associated with a large proportion of consumer bankruptcies in the United States. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between the Medicaid expansion implemented in the context of the Affordable Care Act and consumer bankruptcy, overall and by chapter filing. We used a longitudinal study design with a study period of 2008–2017. We tested three approaches: difference‐in‐differences, fixed effect panel linear regression, and triple difference. We constructed a panel dataset from 2008 to 2017 with states' data using data from various sources on insurance, bankruptcy filings, and characteristics that may affect bankruptcy, such as income and ethnicity. The outcomes were the annual rates of consumer bankruptcies overall and by chapter at the state level. Between 2008 and 2017, the overall unadjusted bankruptcy filing rate fell from 0.36% to 0.24%. We found that the expansion was associated with a decrease in overall consumer bankruptcy varying between 0.035 and 0.039 percentage points and that the intensity of the effect was modulated by the intensity of the treatment. Results were consistent across models and suggest that the Medicaid expansion had a significant negative effect on overall bankruptcy filings and specifically on Chapter 7 filings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study highlights the importance of financial background risks in consumers' demand for coverage against insurable risks, considering the bankruptcy option. We explore three cases that are overlooked in theoretical literature, although found to be highly relevant in empirical studies: (1) the joint realization of the two financial risks is bankrupting, (2) the insurable risk is bankrupting and the background risk is not, and (3) each financial risk is bankrupting on its own. Our new results highlight the potential role of the background risk in decreasing demand for insurance (and thus insurance take‐up) and yield novel non‐monotonic relationships between the magnitude of the background risk and the demand for insurance coverage, given consumers' initial wealth. Our results align with recent empirical work that highlights the role of consumer bankruptcy as a substitute to formal health insurance, and thereby its significant negative effects on insurance take up among working‐age Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we examine whether and how changes in personal bankruptcy laws, viewed as a shock to employees' expected personal wealth, affect corporate policies. Following a reform in personal bankruptcy laws that limits individuals' access to bankruptcy protection, firms more affected by this regulation reform increase labor costs, reduce investment, and engage in less risk taking. The effects are stronger when employees have more bargaining power. Furthermore, firms in industries characterized by high unemployment risk reduce leverage. These results support the view that firms choose more conservative policies to mitigate employees' expected welfare losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether relative income differences among peers can generate financial distress. Using lottery winnings as plausibly exogenous variations in the relative income of peers, we find that the dollar magnitude of a lottery win of one neighbor increases subsequent borrowing and bankruptcies among other neighbors. We also examine which factors may mitigate lenders' bankruptcy risk in these neighborhoods. We show that bankruptcy filers obtain more secured, but not unsecured, debt, and lenders provide additional credit to low-risk, but not high-risk, debtors. In addition, we find evidence consistent with local lenders taking advantage of soft information to mitigate credit risk. Received October 12, 2016; editorial decision January 15, 2019 by Editor Philip Strahan. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although the Bankruptcy Code is facially neutral, the consumer bankruptcy discharge provisions produce anomalies that run counter to bankruptcy’s internal principles of not forgiving debt that is based on misconduct or that implicates a public policy concern. For example, the discharge provisions allow some individuals to discharge debt that stems from civil rights violations or tortious discrimination. In contrast, the Bankruptcy Code precludes some debtors from debt relief based on narrow views of misconduct or misconceptions about moral hazards. These individuals who file for bankruptcy owe debts that generally cannot be forgiven, like civil and criminal fees and fines and student loans. These loans are not always debts that stem from the debtor’s misconduct or involve a moral hazard, but they still fit within this punitive classification of nondischargeable debt. This Article adds to existing consumer bankruptcy scholarship by arguing that the anomalies in the bankruptcy nondischargeability provisions create unintended costs that are borne by economically marginalized individuals. The Bankruptcy Code works at crosspurposes with its internal principles of risk spreading and economic rehabilitation by preventing the discharge of penal debt and student loan debt. The inconsistent treatment of debt follows recognizable racial and socioeconomic lines of vulnerability and marginalization. To remedy these inconsistencies, this Article proposes targeted reforms to the bankruptcy discharge system and reintroduces the question of whether there should be nondischargeable debts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer financial protection law is dominated by ex-ante, contract-centered regulatory measures. But these measures largely fail to curb lenders' incentive to lend beyond consumers' ability to repay. Accordingly, this Article suggests a different approach: discouraging lenders from extending loans that cannot be repaid by dismissing the imprudent lender's claims in consumer bankruptcy. I argue that regulation of underwriting decisions through bankruptcy is normatively desirable because it challenges the artificial separation between consumer finance law and consumer bankruptcy law. By this token, it may not only overcome the autonomy and effectiveness concerns attached to ex-ante consumer finance regulation, but also enhance the internal coherence of consumer bankruptcy law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Anglo-American legal tradition, open trials date back seven centuries, with Norman courts being open to free men. Federal courts continue this tradition by creating a presumption all court documents are, more or less, entered into the public record, and, therefore, should be publicly accessible. Congress included this presumption of openness in the Bankruptcy Code. Section 107 of the Code presumes that any paper submitted to a bankruptcy court would be available to the public unless the information that it contained fell within a limited set of exceptions, including "trade secret[s] or confidential research, development, or commercial information." The Code fails to define any of the four terms listed above, allowing bankruptcy judges (perhaps too much) discretion in what these terms encompass. This Note will examine how these terms have been analyzed, with particular attention to "confidential commercial information" and its applications. This Note will suggest how any inconsistency in jurisprudence, or differences between jurisprudence and the statute, can be corrected. Ultimately, this Note will argue the best path forward is a balancing test that looks past what information is being sealed to the quantified harm it can do if released publicly. This test will also include how to weigh different factors, primarily the relevance of the information to be sealed, in relation to the public's interest in the information. Corporations and repeat players (e.g., banks or mortgage companies) will benefit from clear-cut presumptions outlined infra, bankruptcy judges will have the flexibility to tailor solutions to each situation, and consumer debtors will continue to have access to speedy bankruptcy proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Auto lenders were perhaps the biggest winners of the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform, as Chapter 13 bankruptcy filers can no longer "cramdown" the amount owed on recent auto loans. We estimate the causal effect of this anticramdown provision on the price and quantity of auto credit. Exploiting historical variation in states' usage of Chapter 13 bankruptcy, we find strong evidence that eliminating cramdowns decreased interest rates and some evidence that loan sizes increased among subprime borrowers. The decline in interest rates is persistent and is robust to a battery of sensitivity checks. We rule out other reform changes as possible causes. Received September 29, 2016; editorial decision January 15, 2019 by Editor Philip Strahan. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased electronic filing, or e-filing, of nonprofit data in the United States and abroad quickens public availability, eliminates dependence on third-party proprietary datasets, and broadens access to information offering insight into previously neglected topics. On the other hand, increasingly open data require researchers to independently ensure data quality, understand limitations, and consider how data availability shapes research questions. As electronic filing becomes mandatory in the United States and more widespread elsewhere, this research considers how expanded e-filer data impact nonprofit research approaches and opportunities while assessing the generalizability and limits of existing e-filed data in the United States. While the data suggest increasing compliance with e-filing, analyses show that older nonprofits with greater capacity and sophisticated financial characteristics are historically more likely to e-file. Further, particular subsectors are more likely to e-file than others. Therefore, using existing e-filed IRS Form 990s for panel data analysis presents some generalizability concerns, although this will improve over time. Moving forward, e-filing and machine-readable access requirements bode well for both quantitative and qualitative nonprofit research, while the United States' experience provides helpful lessons for other research settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating consumer debt assignment exposes a submerged but significant philosophical tension in contract law's treatment of rights transfers. On the one hand, contract law adopts a highly permissive stance toward rights‐transfers (assignments) undertaken on the unilateral initiative of the rights‐holder. On the other hand, it reasonably takes a restrictive posture toward duty‐transfers (delegations), requiring greater input from the duty's beneficiary about the identity of the duty‐holder. Where, however, an assignment integrally, albeit covertly, involves a duty‐transfer, then the more restrictive rules of delegation should apply. Debt assignments represent a significant, but not isolated, case of such hidden delegation because, in addition to rights to repayment, creditors have an array of moral and legal duties toward debtors. Recognition of this doctrinal tension should alter our legal treatment of significant cases of assignment and sensitise us, philosophically, to the relational components of economic behaviors often treated as purely transactional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the LTL decision has placed a considerable roadblock before LTL, the fundamental structure of a Texas two-step remains viable for the right companies or where a funding agreement more closely aligns with the actual liability faced. The Texas Two-Step The Texas two-step bankruptcy strategy enables a corporate debtor to "merge" into two companies: one that will continue to hold operational assets and the other that will hold the targeted liabilities and specified fixed assets. This enables a company to streamline the bankruptcy process by keeping operating assets out of bankruptcy but still enabling the company to access the unique bankruptcy powers to resolve mass tort liabilities. For the past several years, a series of debtors have used a controversial new bankruptcy strategy known as the "Texas two-step" to streamline the bankruptcy process in mass tort cases by insulating operating businesses from bankruptcy oversight while simultaneously taking advantage of bankruptcy trust and injunctive powers to distribute funds among claimants. [Extracted from the article]

Investigation on the factors of why people go bankrupt needs to be identified to reduce bankruptcy cases among Malaysians, as the number of bankruptcy cases has significantly increased in Malaysia. This study intended to know the relationship between the unemployment rate, lending rate, non-performing loan, GDP, and household debt toward personal bankruptcy and was investigated using multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis by utilizing the available data from 2005 to 2021 through Malaysia of Department of Insolvency (MDI). The findings suggest that two variables, i.e., the unemployment rate and lending rate, are statistically significant towards personal bankruptcy in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the discharge procedure for entrepreneurs as prescribed in the Directive on restructuring and insolvency. It analyses the elements of the discharge procedure for entrepreneurs that are harmonised with the Directive and whether it ensures a proper balance between the interests of the debtor and creditors. The author assesses how the concept of an 'entrepreneur' should be perceived under the scope of the Directive, the requirements of commencement of discharge of debt procedure and whether it indeed provides a fresh start for entrepreneurs after the end of this procedure. Where relevant, the article focuses on the comparison between the discharge procedure in the Directive and the rules of personal bankruptcy established in the US Bankruptcy Code (Chapters 7 and 13) which served as an inspiration to the Directive. Comparison of the relevant rules on the discharge procedures established in the Directive and the US Bankruptcy Code allows us to better understand the aims and goals of certain provisions of the discharge procedure in the European Union insolvency law and provide a conclusion on whether the proposed model of discharge procedure is effective. The author discusses whether the discharge procedure in the Directive managed to establish a fair balance between the interests of the debtor and creditors and whether it will improve entrepreneurship conditions in the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unemployment, weak consumer power, inability to regularly service credit obligations (problem loans), and inability to settle other financial obligations may be the factors that lead a natural person (consumer) to insolvency. The institute of personal bankruptcy is an institute which provides an opportunity for a natural person (consumer) to be relieved from debts without falling into insolvency, at the cost of having his/her property subject to enforcement. The liberal model of personal bankruptcy is one of the modalities of personal bankruptcy that should be taken into consideration during future regulation. The liberal model of personal bankruptcy is characterized by an open approach, which ultimately leads to a complete discharge of debt. Debt relief is an essential feature of this model, which is based on the idea of providing a chance for a new financial start (fresh start), which puts the interest of the debtor-consumer in the foreground, and the risk is transferred to the creditor. The legal systems of the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska do not recognize the institute of personal bankruptcy. Establishing the normative framework of the institute of personal bankruptcy may be a challenge for the legislations of Serbia and Republika Srpska, especially because it is insufficiently considered in domestic legal theory and fairly unknown in judicial and legal practice. For the stated reasons, the authors will point out to the advantages and disadvantages of the liberal model of personal bankruptcy, focusing on why this model should be taken into consideration during the potential legal regulation of the institute of personal bankruptcy. In this way, the authors attempt to initiate a legal discussion about the necessity of the legal regulation of the institute of personal bankruptcy in the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska.

Are payments to trustees and other court administrators, as a proportion of total payments, increasing over time? In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the court appoints a trustee to verify the debtor's schedules and check for non-exempt assets. [Extracted from the article]

This paper examines how missed income due to illness impacts household fragility. Specifically, it shows that paid sick leave laws, which provide households insurance against illness‐related income shocks, reduce consumer bankruptcy. Using a panel dataset at the county‐quarter level, this paper exploits the geographic and temporal variation in the adoption of paid sick leave laws to implement a difference‐in‐differences and event study analysis. It finds that paid sick leave laws reduce consumer bankruptcy filings by approximately 11%; this effect is seen within three quarters of the law's implementation and remains constant in magnitude and significance thereafter. As paid sick leave laws may come at a cost to businesses, this paper also examines the impact of such laws on business bankruptcy filings—it shows that paid sick leave laws have little to no impact on business bankruptcy filings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state guarantees the right of every citizen to get a decent living and a place to live as a human being. Consumer rights in the housing sector are regulated in Law Number 8 of 1999 concerning Consumer Protection, Law Number 1 of 2011 concerning Housing and Settlement Areas, and Law Number 20 of 2011 concerning Flats. Consumer rights are the obligation of business actors to fulfill. Bankruptcy is an effort for creditors to fulfill their rights to debtors. In principle, consumers in the housing sector do not want developers to go bankrupt, but on the contrary, bankruptcy is used as a loophole for irresponsible developers to avoid their obligations. The consumer's position becomes a questionable matter because the consumer's position is harmed by the bankruptcy decision. In this paper, we will discuss on how is the position of consumers in the housing sector as a result of the bankruptcy decision of the developer and the efforts to fulfill the rights of housing consumers fairly. The research method used is normative with an approach to norms and principles in regulation. The data used is secondary with qualitative data analysis and deductive conclusions. The purpose of this paper is to explain the position of housing consumers on the developer's bankruptcy decision, and efforts to fulfill consumer rights due to the developer's bankruptcy decision. The developer's bankruptcy decision has resulted in housing consumers being concurrent creditors. Efforts that can be taken to fulfill consumer rights are to position consumers as creditors with special rights because of the law based on the Circular Letter of the Supreme Court Number 4 of 2016 and the Decision of the Constitutional Court 21 of 2015, in addition to efforts to file a lawsuit to the district court as well as amendments to bankruptcy regulations and consumer protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]