A Debtor World Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Debt

A Debtor Worldcontains a collection of contributions about the societal implications of private debt. The essays comprising this volume are authored by dozens of leading U.S. and international academics who have written about debt or issues related to debt in a wide range of disciplines including law, sociology, psychology, history, economics, and more. The goal of this collection is to explore debt neither as a problem nor a solution but as a phenomenon and to promote the exchange of knowledge to better comprehend why consumers and businesses decide to borrow money. It asks what happens to businesses and consumers under a heavy debt load, and what legal norms and institutions societies need to encourage the efficient use of debt while promoting a greater understanding of the global phenomenon of increased indebtedness and societal dependence.

Ralph Brubaker is a professor of law at the University of Illinois. He is a prolific scholar of bankruptcy law and policy and is an expert on the complex jurisdictional and procedural facets of federal bankruptcy proceedings. He has been a member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the American Bankruptcy Institute, and is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.

Robert M. Lawless is a professor of law and co-director of the Illinois Program on Law, Behavior & Social Science at the University of Illinois where he writes and teaches about bankruptcy and consumer credit. He is a regular contributor to the blog Credit Slips, a discussion on credit and bankruptcy, and a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.

Charles J. Tabb is the Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Chair in Law at the University of Illinois, and is on the Católica Global Law Faculty in Lisbon, Portugal. Professor Tabb has published 6 books and dozens of articles on bankruptcy law. He advised the Chinese government on the reform of their bankruptcy law; served on the Advisory Committee for the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure; and served as a Uniform Law Commissioner. Professor Tabb is a member of the Board of Regents of the American College of Bankruptcy.