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...

Before the dust had settled on the complete overhaul of the U.S. consumer bankruptcy system in October 2005, Sweden remodeled its consumer bankruptcy law on May 19, 2006. After over a decade of trial and error under its 1994 original law, Sweden has just adopted a streamlined new law to make its...

This paper (an excerpt from a forthcoming book on cooperation in international insolvency) analyzes the theoretical debate between the two main polar alternatives in the administration of international insolvency (bankruptcy): quot;territorialismquot; and quot;universalism.quot; When financial...

This book explores the rapidly evolving law of individual insolvency. As consumer borrowing and spending play a greater role in fueling worldwide economic growth, more and more countries are dealing with the casualties of the quot;democratization of creditquot; and the quot;open credit...