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Bankruptcy

Document Type

Book Section

Publication Date

2015

Publication Title

International Encyclopedia of The Social & Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Bankruptcy is a legal process that generally seeks to effectuate two goals: (1) an orderly distribution of a debtor's prebankruptcy assets and/or future income for the benefit of creditors and (2) financial rehabilitation of the debtor. The first goal can be viewed as the law's response to the common-pool problem that arises when a debtor has insufficient resources to repay creditor claims. The second goal can be viewed as the law's response to alleviating the financial distress that renders a debtor economically unproductive.

Keywords

Bankruptcy

Publication Citation

Rafael I. Pardo, Bankruptcy in International Encyclopedia of The Social & Behavioral Sciences (James D. Wright ed., 2d ed. 2015)

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