Many legal systems understand consumer insolvency laws as social insurance, providing relief and a`fresh start' to over-indebted households who fall through gaps in the social safety net. Personal insolvency law in England and Wales in practice functions similarly, but in terms of legal principle and policy is ambivalent ± sometimes emphasizing household debt relief, other times creditor wealth maximization. This article assesses, in the context of novel debt problems brought to prominence by recession and austerity, the extent to which the law has embraced personal insolvency's social insurance function. The discussion is framed particularly by the escalating United Kingdom housing crisis and the case of Places for People v. Sharples concerning consumer bankruptcy's (non)protection of debtors from eviction. The analysis illustrates how tensions between conceptual understandings and personal insolvency law's practical operation undermine the law's ability to fulfil its potential to produce positive policy responses to contemporary socio-economic challenges. 374

A decade after the Global Financial Crisis, many developed economies continue to strain under excessive household debt. This article presents evidence suggesting that the failure of policymakers to enact debt relief measures may lie in the superior influence of the coordinated and concentrated financial sector over legislative processes, as compared to the diffuse and disorganised interests of consumer debtors. Post‐crisis popular interest in technical issues of personal insolvency law created only a narrow space of political opportunity. Soon these questions returned to the domain of technocratic actors and corporate influence. The article examines this situation through an inter‐disciplinary case study of consumer bankruptcy reform in Ireland under ‘Troika’ supervision. Proposals initially billed as assisting over‐indebted households developed into increasingly creditor‐friendly legislation in ‘quieter’ stages of technocratic decision‐making. The stark implications of these findings highlight obstacles to resolving household debt problems and consequent risks of economic and political instability.

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efforts to trace how austerity policies 2 involve the downward and outward transmission of budgetary cuts, until they reach the level of financial hardship for individual households (James, 2020). Several authors have shown that State governments' fiscal retrenchment through austerity has frequently involved the devolution of risk and responsibility, and the downloading of the task of cutting budgets from higher to lower levels of government (Peck, 2012, p. 631). Peck describes a process of "scalar dumping" under which US federal and state governments shift the primary burden of implementing austerity cuts to local authorities and agencies (Peck, 2012, p. 632). Cooper discusses how the neoliberal "remaking" of US state and local finance has involved a "paradoxical ballooning of municipal and personal debt" while limits are placed on central government expenditure (Cooper, 2021). As tax-deprived local authorities increasingly rely on alternative (and regressive) income sources such as user fees and fines, this form of austerity "ends up transferring the fiscal burdens of the state downwards, constituting the income and asset-poor as both permanent defaulters on the public fisc and revenue-generators of last resort"(Cooper, 2021). Gray and Barford illustrate how under UK austerity policies, the greatest proportional cut in public expenditure has fallen on local government, reshaping "the relationship between central and local government in Britain, 2 Blyth describes austerity as 'a form of voluntary deflation in which the economy adjusts through the reduction of wages, prices, and public spending to restore competitiveness, which is (supposedly) best achieved by cutting the state's budget, debts, and deficits.' Similarly, Schui notes that while 'the term austerity is often used to denote public spending cuts in general', its 'main rationale' is 'to restore balance in government finances and regain economy dynamism and competitiveness', by cutting government expenditure (primarily consumption, rather than investment, spending) and lowering labour costs (wages): (Blyth, 2013, p. 2; Schui, 2015, p. 2) "Accepted Manuscript" version of Joseph Spooner, 'The Local Austere Creditor' in Saul Schwartz (ed.

In the context of economic crisis and widespread household over-indebtedness, this paper examines the varying rate and extent of evolution of consumer insolvency laws in a selection of European countries, in order to identify the factors that influence the degree to which the law can respond to the conditions of the modern consumer credit society. I begin by examining the key features of the selected laws, including the newly enacted Irish Personal Insolvency Act 2012. I consider potential explanations for differences in national laws advanced by commentators and policymakers, in order to examine whether national legal traditions, relevant institutional structures, and cultural attitudes can determine the shape of a country's personal insolvency law. I illustrate how empirical evidence provides little support for the idea that consumer insolvency laws are the product of such inherently national factors. Subsequently, I show how political science concepts such as political ideology, policy salience, and interest group influence appear to explain more effectively the development of these laws. Noting the politically controversial and complex nature of household debt issues, I conclude by suggesting that universal political forces, rather than inherently national factors, represent greater obstacles to reforming personal insolvency law to meet the needs of the modern consumer credit society. Résumé: Dans le contexte de la crise économique et du large surendettement des ménages, cet article examine le niveau et l'étendue variables de l'évolution des lois sur l'endettement du consommateur dans une sélection de pays européens, afin d'établir les facteurs qui déterminent à quel degré la loi peut répondre aux conditions de la société moderne de crédit à la consommation. Je commence par examiner les caractéristiques majeures des lois sélectionnées, y compris la récente loi irlandaise de 2012 sur l'endettement personnel. J'étudie les explications potentielles des differences dans les lois nationales, avancées par les commentateurs et les décideurs afin d'examiner si les traditions légales nationales, les structures institutionnelles concernées et les attitudes culturelles peuvent déterminer la forme d'une réglementation légale d'un pays sur l'endettement personnel. J'illustre comment la preuve empirique soutient peu l'idée que les lois sur l'endettement du consommateur sont le produit de tels facteurs essentiellement nationaux. De manière subséquente, je montre comment des concepts de science politique tels que l'idéologie politique, le rôle de la politique et l'influence de groupes d'intérêts semblent expliquer plus effectivement l'évolution de ces lois. En notant la nature politiquement controversée et complexe des questions de dettes des ménages, je conclus en suggérant que les forces politiques universelles, plutôt que des facteurs essentiellement nationaux, représentent des obstacles plus importants à la réforme de lois sur l'endettement personnel pour répondre aux besoins de la société moderne de crédit à la consommation.