|
Student Publications Homepage
ARTICLE CONTENTS
[Pages 1-78]
TOP OF ARTICLE
Introduction
I. An Introduction to Optimal Taxation and Public Assistance
A. The First-Best Tax or Transfer
B. The Second-Best and Moral Hazard
1. The Grasshopper Problem and Partial Insurance
2. The Opossum Problem and Income Taxes
II. Applying the Optimal Tax Lessons to Bankruptcy
A. Utopian Bankruptcy
1. Guarding the Gates of Bankruptcy: Identifying the Grasshoppers
2. Projected and Potential Income: How Much Can the Opossum Pay?
3. Accounting for Subsequent Shocks
B. Second-Best Bankruptcy and the Centrality of Information
1. Catching the Grasshoppers: Barring the Willful but Not the Negligent
2. Catching the Opossums: The Pessimist and the Guarded Optimist
a. The Pessimist and Income Taxes
b. The Guarded Optimist and Subsequent Modifications
III. Using the Optimal Bankruptcy Analysis to Interpret the Current Bankruptcy Code
A. A Brief Description of Collections Law
B. Bankruptcy and the Grasshopper Problem
1. The Negligent Grasshopper and Means Testing
2. The Willful and Malicious Grasshopper, the Superdischarge and Good Faith
C. Bankruptcy and the Opossum Problem: Assessing the Debtor’s
Ability to Pay
1. Projected Disposable Income
2. Plan Modifications
a. Sharp Decline in Financial Condition
b. Sharp Improvement in Financial Condition
3. The Regular Income Requirement and Non-Bankruptcy Law
Conclusion
|
