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Personal Bankruptcy Law, Wealth, and Entrepreneurship—Evidence from the Introduction of a "Fresh Start" Policy

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  • Frank M. Fossen

Abstract

A personal bankruptcy law that allows for a "fresh start" not only reduces the individual risk involved in entrepreneurship, but may also lead to higher interest rates charged by creditors. Both effects are less relevant for wealthy potential entrepreneurs. This paper illustrates these effects in a model and tests the hypotheses derived by exploiting the introduction of a "fresh start" policy in Germany in 1999 as a quasi-experiment, based on representative household panel data. The results indicate that the insurance effect of a more forgiving personal bankruptcy law exceeds the interest effect and encourages less wealthy individuals to enter into entrepreneurship. (AMS Subject Classification K35,G33,L26)

Suggested Citation

  • Frank M. Fossen, 2014. "Personal Bankruptcy Law, Wealth, and Entrepreneurship—Evidence from the Introduction of a "Fresh Start" Policy," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 16(1), pages 269-312.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:amlawe:v:16:y:2014:i:1:p:269-312.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/aler/aht015
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Sadeghi, Ali & Kibler, Ewald, 2022. "Do bankruptcy laws matter for entrepreneurship? A Synthetic Control Method analysis of a bankruptcy reform in Finland," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    2. Lisa L. Posey & Vickie Bajtelsmit, 2017. "Insurance and Endogenous Bankruptcy Risk: When is it Rational to Choose Gambling, Insurance, and Potential Bankruptcy?," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 42(1), pages 15-40, March.
    3. Lisa L. Posey & Vickie Bajtelsmit, 2017. "Insurance and Endogenous Bankruptcy Risk: When is it Rational to Choose Gambling, Insurance, and Potential Bankruptcy?," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance Theory, Springer;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 42(1), pages 15-40, March.
    4. repec:ces:ifodic:v:13:y:2016:i:4:p:19191579 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Alessandro Melcarne & Giovanni B. Ramello, 2020. "Bankruptcy delay and firms’ dynamics," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 405-419, February.
    6. Greta Falavigna & Roberto Ippoliti, 2022. "Financial constraints, investments, and environmental strategies: An empirical analysis of judicial barriers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2002-2018, July.
    7. Dal Borgo, Mariela, 2021. "Do bankruptcy protection levels affect households' demand for stocks?," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 564, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    8. Douglas Cumming & Minjie Zhang, 2023. "Bankruptcy law and angel investors around the world," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(7), pages 1256-1277, September.
    9. repec:ces:ifodic:v:13:y:2016:i:4:p:19191583 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Frank M. Fossen & Johannes König, 2016. "Personal Bankruptcy Law and Entrepreneurship," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(04), pages 28-34, February.
    11. Błażej Prusak & Sylwia Morawska & Michał Łukowski & Przemysław Banasik, 2022. "The impact of bankruptcy regimes on entrepreneurship and innovation. Is there any relationship?," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 473-498, March.
    12. Chong Kyoon Lee & Johan Wiklund & Alejandro Amezcua & Tae Jun Bae & Almantas Palubinskas, 2022. "Business failure and institutions in entrepreneurship: a systematic review and research agenda," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1997-2023, April.
    13. Marco Celentani & Miguel García-Posada & Fernando Gómez Pomar, 2022. "Fresh start policies and small business activity: evidence from a natural experiment," Working Papers 2210, Banco de España.
    14. Maren Forier & Nadine Lybaert & Maarten Corten & Niels Appermont & Tensie Steijvers, 2023. "The flip side of the coin: how entrepreneurship-oriented insolvency laws can complicate access to debt financing for growth firms," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 461-495, December.
    15. Jeffrey Traczynski, 2016. "Personal Bankruptcy and Social Insurance," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(04), pages 23-27, February.

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