Suchergebnisse

This paper aims at giving an explanation of the changes in the number of bankruptcies during the second part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. We wonder in particular whether changes in bankruptcy law, which are substantial during the period, suffice to explain the rise in the proportion of bankrupted firms. We first describe the main features and changes of French insolvency law and show that they contradict the evolution observed at the aggregate level. We then show that existing statistics, which include a regional dimension, allow for a better test of the impact of legal changes. We show that some legal changes had a significant impact, but not all. We also observe that regional variations in bankruptcies are huge and do not correspond to French economic geography, but may rather be understood as a diffusion process from the Paris Court towards the provinces. The major differences among regions also suggest that, even in a civil law country, the letter the law is much less important than local practices.

This paper aims at giving an explanation of the changes in the number of bankruptcies during the second part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. We wonder in particular whether changes in bankruptcy law, which are substantial during the period, suffice to explain the rise in the proportion of bankrupted firms. We first describe the main features and changes of French insolvency law and show that they contradict the evolution observed at the aggregate level. We then show that existing statistics, which include a regional dimension, allow for a better test of the impact of legal changes. We show that some legal changes had a significant impact, but not all. We also observe that regional variations in bankruptcies are huge and do not correspond to French economic geography, but may rather be understood as a diffusion process from the Paris Court towards the provinces. The major differences among regions also suggest that, even in a civil law country, the letter the law is much less important than local practices.

In this paper, we try to measure the impact of the changes in French bankruptcy law in the 19th century focusing on the behaviour of economic agents as users of bankruptcy law for the sake of finding the best solution to their economic problems. Debtors used bankruptcy law in order to minimize their debt level when facing difficulties in servicing it, but they had to convince their creditors and/or the courts of their good faith, and faced the adverse effects of bankruptcy on their reputation and on the smooth functioning of their business. Creditors used bankruptcy law in order to force their debtors to pay, if they could. Judges - who in the French system of specialized commercial courts were elected entrepreneurs - applied the law within a specific economic context (both a specific local context and at a specific moment in the business cycle) which could affect them. The first part of the paper presents the evolution of French bankruptcy law during the 19th century in its historical context. The second part briefly describes the theoretical model we use in order to understand the choices facing debtors and creditors in the face of financial distress. The last part proposes some major stylized facts concerning bankruptcies during that period (based on contemporary official statistics) and tries to understand their relationship with the legal evolution described before. ; Cet article propose une méthode pour évaluer l'impact des changements du droit des faillites sur l'économie en se concentrant sur le comportement des agents utilisant les dispositifs juridiques disponibles pour régler au mieux leurs difficultés. Les débiteurs utilisent le droit des faillites pour minimiser leur niveau de dette lorsqu'ils font face à des difficultés de paiement, mais doivent convaincre les créanciers et les tribunaux de leur bonne foi et anticipent les effets négatifs de la faillite sur leur réputation et sur la survie de leur entreprise. Les créanciers utilisent si nécessaire le droit pour forcer les débiteurs à payer, sachant ...

This paper aims at giving an explanation of the changes in the number of bankruptcies during the second part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. We wonder in particular whether changes in bankruptcy law, which are substantial during the period, suffice to explain the rise in the proportion of bankrupted firms. We first describe the main features and changes of French insolvency law and show that they contradict the evolution observed at the aggregate level. We then show that existing statistics, which include a regional dimension, allow for a better test of the impact of legal changes. We show that some legal changes had a significant impact, but not all. We also observe that regional variations in bankruptcies are huge and do not correspond to French economic geography, but may rather be understood as a diffusion process from the Paris Court towards the provinces. The major differences among regions also suggest that, even in a civil law country, the letter the law is much less important than local practices.

This paper aims at giving an explanation of the changes in the number of bankruptcies during the second part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. We wonder in particular whether changes in bankruptcy law, which are substantial during the period, suffice to explain the rise in the proportion of bankrupted firms. We first describe the main features and changes of French insolvency law and show that they contradict the evolution observed at the aggregate level. We then show that existing statistics, which include a regional dimension, allow for a better test of the impact of legal changes. We show that some legal changes had a significant impact, but not all. We also observe that regional variations in bankruptcies are huge and do not correspond to French economic geography, but may rather be understood as a diffusion process from the Paris Court towards the provinces. The major differences among regions also suggest that, even in a civil law country, the letter the law is much less important than local practices.

This paper studies the implementation of bankruptcy law in 19th century France. It uses two sources: first, the annual exhaustive statistical appraisal of bankruptcies published from 1840 on; second, individual bankruptcy files conserved at the Paris Merchant Court archives. We show that the changes in bankruptcy law cannot explain the changes in the number and size of bankruptcies, suggesting changes in the practice of the courts as well as in the behaviour of firms. Most importantly, the Parisian example suggests that the courts didn't treat all firms on the same basis, privileging the important ones. This gives new arguments against a purely legalistic and retrospective vision of the impact of bankruptcy law on economic activity, and in favour of an empirical study of its concrete implementation. ; Cet article étudie l'application de la législation sur les faillites en France au XIXème siècle. Il utilise deux sources : la statistique annuelle des faillites mise en place à partir de 1840 par le Ministère de la Justice et les dossiers individuels de faillite conservés par les archives du Tribunal de commerce de Paris. Il montre que l'évolution de la législation ne peut pas suffire à expliquer les comportements en matière de faillite, qui reflètent aussi des transformations économiques. Surtout, il démontre à partir de l'exemple parisien que les tribunaux ne traitent pas toujours à l'identique toutes les entreprises, accordant un traitement de faveur aux plus grandes d'entre elles. Ce travail donne ainsi de nouveaux arguments contre une vision légaliste et rétrospective de l'impact de la législation des faillites sur l'activité économique et en faveur d'une étude empirique de son application concrète.

In this paper, we try to measure the impact of the changes in French bankruptcy law in the 19th century focusing on the behaviour of economic agents as users of bankruptcy law for the sake of finding the best solution to their economic problems. Debtors used bankruptcy law in order to minimize their debt level when facing difficulties in servicing it, but they had to convince their creditors and/or the courts of their good faith, and faced the adverse effects of bankruptcy on their reputation and on the smooth functioning of their business. Creditors used bankruptcy law in order to force their debtors to pay, if they could. Judges - who in the French system of specialized commercial courts were elected entrepreneurs - applied the law within a specific economic context (both a specific local context and at a specific moment in the business cycle) which could affect them. The first part of the paper presents the evolution of French bankruptcy law during the 19th century in its historical context. The second part briefly describes the theoretical model we use in order to understand the choices facing debtors and creditors in the face of financial distress. The last part proposes some major stylized facts concerning bankruptcies during that period (based on contemporary official statistics) and tries to understand their relationship with the legal evolution described before. ; Cet article propose une méthode pour évaluer l'impact des changements du droit des faillites sur l'économie en se concentrant sur le comportement des agents utilisant les dispositifs juridiques disponibles pour régler au mieux leurs difficultés. Les débiteurs utilisent le droit des faillites pour minimiser leur niveau de dette lorsqu'ils font face à des difficultés de paiement, mais doivent convaincre les créanciers et les tribunaux de leur bonne foi et anticipent les effets négatifs de la faillite sur leur réputation et sur la survie de leur entreprise. Les créanciers utilisent si nécessaire le droit pour forcer les débiteurs à payer, sachant que le recours aux tribunaux a des coûts. La première partie rappelle les grands traits de l'évolution du droit des faillites français au 19ème siècle dans son contexte ; la seconde partie propose un modèle théorique simple d'analyse des choix. La troisième propose de lire à la lumière de ce modèle et des changements législatifs quelques grands traits stylisés de l'évolution des faillites telle qu'elle est mesurée par les statistiques du Compte général de la Justice.

This paper aims at giving an explanation of the changes in the number of bankruptcies during the second part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. We wonder in particular whether changes in bankruptcy law, which are substantial during the period, suffice to explain the rise in the proportion of bankrupted firms. We first describe the main features and changes of French insolvency law and show that they contradict the evolution observed at the aggregate level. We then show that existing statistics, which include a regional dimension, allow for a better test of the impact of legal changes. We show that some legal changes had a significant impact, but not all. We also observe that regional variations in bankruptcies are huge and do not correspond to French economic geography, but may rather be understood as a diffusion process from the Paris Court towards the provinces. The major differences among regions also suggest that, even in a civil law country, the letter the law is much less important than local practices.

In this paper, we try to measure the impact of the changes in French bankruptcy law in the 19th century focusing on the behaviour of economic agents as users of bankruptcy law for the sake of finding the best solution to their economic problems. Debtors used bankruptcy law in order to minimize their debt level when facing difficulties in servicing it, but they had to convince their creditors and/or the courts of their good faith, and faced the adverse effects of bankruptcy on their reputation and on the smooth functioning of their business. Creditors used bankruptcy law in order to force their debtors to pay, if they could. Judges - who in the French system of specialized commercial courts were elected entrepreneurs - applied the law within a specific economic context (both a specific local context and at a specific moment in the business cycle) which could affect them. The first part of the paper presents the evolution of French bankruptcy law during the 19th century in its historical context. The second part briefly describes the theoretical model we use in order to understand the choices facing debtors and creditors in the face of financial distress. The last part proposes some major stylized facts concerning bankruptcies during that period (based on contemporary official statistics) and tries to understand their relationship with the legal evolution described before. ; Cet article propose une méthode pour évaluer l'impact des changements du droit des faillites sur l'économie en se concentrant sur le comportement des agents utilisant les dispositifs juridiques disponibles pour régler au mieux leurs difficultés. Les débiteurs utilisent le droit des faillites pour minimiser leur niveau de dette lorsqu'ils font face à des difficultés de paiement, mais doivent convaincre les créanciers et les tribunaux de leur bonne foi et anticipent les effets négatifs de la faillite sur leur réputation et sur la survie de leur entreprise. Les créanciers utilisent si nécessaire le droit pour forcer les débiteurs à payer, sachant ...

This paper studies the implementation of bankruptcy law in 19th century France. It uses two sources: first, the annual exhaustive statistical appraisal of bankruptcies published from 1840 on; second, individual bankruptcy files conserved at the Paris Merchant Court archives. We show that the changes in bankruptcy law cannot explain the changes in the number and size of bankruptcies, suggesting changes in the practice of the courts as well as in the behaviour of firms. Most importantly, the Parisian example suggests that the courts didn't treat all firms on the same basis, privileging the important ones. This gives new arguments against a purely legalistic and retrospective vision of the impact of bankruptcy law on economic activity, and in favour of an empirical study of its concrete implementation. ; Cet article étudie l'application de la législation sur les faillites en France au XIXème siècle. Il utilise deux sources : la statistique annuelle des faillites mise en place à partir de 1840 par le Ministère de la Justice et les dossiers individuels de faillite conservés par les archives du Tribunal de commerce de Paris. Il montre que l'évolution de la législation ne peut pas suffire à expliquer les comportements en matière de faillite, qui reflètent aussi des transformations économiques. Surtout, il démontre à partir de l'exemple parisien que les tribunaux ne traitent pas toujours à l'identique toutes les entreprises, accordant un traitement de faveur aux plus grandes d'entre elles. Ce travail donne ainsi de nouveaux arguments contre une vision légaliste et rétrospective de l'impact de la législation des faillites sur l'activité économique et en faveur d'une étude empirique de son application concrète.

This paper aims at giving an explanation of the changes in the number of bankruptcies during the second part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. We wonder in particular whether changes in bankruptcy law, which are substantial during the period, suffice to explain the rise in the proportion of bankrupted firms. We first describe the main features and changes of French insolvency law and show that they contradict the evolution observed at the aggregate level. We then show that existing statistics, which include a regional dimension, allow for a better test of the impact of legal changes. We show that some legal changes had a significant impact, but not all. We also observe that regional variations in bankruptcies are huge and do not correspond to French economic geography, but may rather be understood as a diffusion process from the Paris Court towards the provinces. The major differences among regions also suggest that, even in a civil law country, the letter the law is much less important than local practices.

This paper studies the implementation of bankruptcy law in 19th century France. It uses two sources: first, the annual exhaustive statistical appraisal of bankruptcies published from 1840 on; second, individual bankruptcy files conserved at the Paris Merchant Court archives. We show that the changes in bankruptcy law cannot explain the changes in the number and size of bankruptcies, suggesting changes in the practice of the courts as well as in the behaviour of firms. Most importantly, the Parisian example suggests that the courts didn't treat all firms on the same basis, privileging the important ones. This gives new arguments against a purely legalistic and retrospective vision of the impact of bankruptcy law on economic activity, and in favour of an empirical study of its concrete implementation. ; Cet article étudie l'application de la législation sur les faillites en France au XIXème siècle. Il utilise deux sources : la statistique annuelle des faillites mise en place à partir de 1840 par le Ministère de la Justice et les dossiers individuels de faillite conservés par les archives du Tribunal de commerce de Paris. Il montre que l'évolution de la législation ne peut pas suffire à expliquer les comportements en matière de faillite, qui reflètent aussi des transformations économiques. Surtout, il démontre à partir de l'exemple parisien que les tribunaux ne traitent pas toujours à l'identique toutes les entreprises, accordant un traitement de faveur aux plus grandes d'entre elles. Ce travail donne ainsi de nouveaux arguments contre une vision légaliste et rétrospective de l'impact de la législation des faillites sur l'activité économique et en faveur d'une étude empirique de son application concrète.

This paper studies the implementation of bankruptcy law in 19th century France. It uses two sources: first, the annual exhaustive statistical appraisal of bankruptcies published from 1840 on; second, individual bankruptcy files conserved at the Paris Merchant Court archives. We show that the changes in bankruptcy law cannot explain the changes in the number and size of bankruptcies, suggesting changes in the practice of the courts as well as in the behaviour of firms. Most importantly, the Parisian example suggests that the courts didn't treat all firms on the same basis, privileging the important ones. This gives new arguments against a purely legalistic and retrospective vision of the impact of bankruptcy law on economic activity, and in favour of an empirical study of its concrete implementation. ; Cet article étudie l'application de la législation sur les faillites en France au XIXème siècle. Il utilise deux sources : la statistique annuelle des faillites mise en place à partir de 1840 par le Ministère de la Justice et les dossiers individuels de faillite conservés par les archives du Tribunal de commerce de Paris. Il montre que l'évolution de la législation ne peut pas suffire à expliquer les comportements en matière de faillite, qui reflètent aussi des transformations économiques. Surtout, il démontre à partir de l'exemple parisien que les tribunaux ne traitent pas toujours à l'identique toutes les entreprises, accordant un traitement de faveur aux plus grandes d'entre elles. Ce travail donne ainsi de nouveaux arguments contre une vision légaliste et rétrospective de l'impact de la législation des faillites sur l'activité économique et en faveur d'une étude empirique de son application concrète.

This paper studies the implementation of bankruptcy law in 19th century France. It uses two sources: first, the annual exhaustive statistical appraisal of bankruptcies published from 1840 on; second, individual bankruptcy files conserved at the Paris Merchant Court archives. We show that the changes in bankruptcy law cannot explain the changes in the number and size of bankruptcies, suggesting changes in the practice of the courts as well as in the behaviour of firms. Most importantly, the Parisian example suggests that the courts didn't treat all firms on the same basis, privileging the important ones. This gives new arguments against a purely legalistic and retrospective vision of the impact of bankruptcy law on economic activity, and in favour of an empirical study of its concrete implementation. ; Cet article étudie l'application de la législation sur les faillites en France au XIXème siècle. Il utilise deux sources : la statistique annuelle des faillites mise en place à partir de 1840 par le Ministère de la Justice et les dossiers individuels de faillite conservés par les archives du Tribunal de commerce de Paris. Il montre que l'évolution de la législation ne peut pas suffire à expliquer les comportements en matière de faillite, qui reflètent aussi des transformations économiques. Surtout, il démontre à partir de l'exemple parisien que les tribunaux ne traitent pas toujours à l'identique toutes les entreprises, accordant un traitement de faveur aux plus grandes d'entre elles. Ce travail donne ainsi de nouveaux arguments contre une vision légaliste et rétrospective de l'impact de la législation des faillites sur l'activité économique et en faveur d'une étude empirique de son application concrète.

This paper aims at giving an explanation of the changes in the number of bankruptcies during the second part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. We wonder in particular whether changes in bankruptcy law, which are substantial during the period, suffice to explain the rise in the proportion of bankrupted firms. We first describe the main features and changes of French insolvency law and show that they contradict the evolution observed at the aggregate level. We then show that existing statistics, which include a regional dimension, allow for a better test of the impact of legal changes. We show that some legal changes had a significant impact, but not all. We also observe that regional variations in bankruptcies are huge and do not correspond to French economic geography, but may rather be understood as a diffusion process from the Paris Court towards the provinces. The major differences among regions also suggest that, even in a civil law country, the letter the law is much less important than local practices.