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The Empirical Dimensions Of Consumer Bankruptcy: Results From A Survey Of Canadian Bankrupts, Saul Schwartz
The Empirical Dimensions Of Consumer Bankruptcy: Results From A Survey Of Canadian Bankrupts, Saul Schwartz
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
The number of consumer bankruptcies in Canada has risen substantially over the last twenty years. Using a 1997 survey of approximately 1,000 Canadian debtors, this article explores the economic situation of debtors seeking bankruptcy protection. This economic situation seems to be quite weak-most of the debtors have very low income, very high debts, and few assets. Moreover, the economic situation of the 1997 debtors seems quite similar to that of the 1977 debtors studied by Wayne Brighton and Justin Connidis almost twenty years ago. The aggregate amount of consumer credit, as a proportion of disposable income, has not risen dramatically, …
Individual Bankruptcy: Preliminary Findings Of A Socio-Legal Analysis, Iain D. C. Ramsay
Individual Bankruptcy: Preliminary Findings Of A Socio-Legal Analysis, Iain D. C. Ramsay
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
This article presents preliminary findings from an empirical study of individuals who filed for bankruptcy in the Toronto bankruptcy district in 1994. The central findings are that bankrupts are both asset- and income-poor at the time of declaring bankruptcy, and have much higher ratios of debt-to-income than the general population. Bankrupts are not drawn solely from low status occupations, but neither are they drawn significantly from the highest status occupations. The major reasons for declaring bankruptcy are adverse employment changes and business failure. There has been a large rise in the number of women declaring bankruptcy since earlier studies in …