Friday, March 14, 2014
Presidential Board Room (Omni Shoreham)
It has been a long road to recover since the economic crisis hit hard on the Latvian economy. Since its peak in 2008, the indebtedness of Latvian households has decreased by around 30%; however, it is still very high, reaching nearly 9 billion dollars across 822,000 households. While politicians claimed the economy is beginning to grow, the number of private bankruptcy declarations remains stable and has not decreased. The paper “Bankruptcy Process: A Way of Resurrection?” will investigate the role of bankruptcy in Latvia. How is value reconsidered when a household goes through the bankruptcy process? What social relationships are at stake during the socialization of debts? How is redemption performed in the private bankruptcy process and can it be characterized as a resurrection regarding the way it affects the future economic activities of individuals?
The paper will look at (1) the history of debt and the bankruptcy process in Latvia and its relatedness with economic processes in the European Union; (2) the relations between indebtedness and economic migration within the European Union; (3) the private bankruptcy process as a mechanism for individuals’ (dis)improvement of their social and economic status. It will present findings from my interviews with officials, as well as with individuals involved in the private bankruptcy process.
