The Financial Distress of Individual Debtors: Points for a De Jure Condendo Reflection from a Comparative Perspective

The article deals with the issue of over-indebtedness, which is perceived – depending on the regulatory model adopted – either as a social problem or as a market failure. In this context, it is possible to distinguish between the welfare state (debtor oriented) and the liberal (creditors oriented) regulatory models. The comparative study of these paradigms is necessary for the following reasons: the comparison between the regulations of different countries makes it possible to find common rules to draw upon with a view to harmonization, as requested by the European Union; the comparison may reveal some regulatory gaps in those countries where the phenomenon of over-indebtedness appears incessant; there are countries, such as Italy, in which the legislation, apparently hybrid and straddling the two different models, is the subject of current reflection by the legislator for a change. This research suggests that Italian legislator could be better inspired by the solutions accepted elsewhere and stimulated, at the same time, to overcome the above-mentioned regulatory gaps. This comparison will show how the original differences are decreasing and allowing to imagine meeting points for common rules.