A Debtor World: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Debt

This book contains chapters about the societal implications of private debt. The chapters 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 book is to explore debt neither as a problem nor a solution but as a phenomenon and to promote the exchange of knowledge to comprehend better 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.