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Should We Abolish Chapter 11 : Evidence from Canada

Author

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  • Timothy C. G. Fisher
  • Jocelyn Martel
Abstract
Over the last decade, Chapter 11 has been the brunt of serious criticism. Some American jurists arguing in favor of revising Chapter 11 have raised the possibility that the Canadian reorganization system might be a good alternative to the existing U.S. system. This article argues that there are fruitful lessons to be learned from the Canadian experience with court-supervised reorganization. Canadian evidence shows that acceptance, confirmation, and consummation rates of proposals are very high. Moreover, firms reorganizing in Canada are almost ten times more likely to survive reorganization than their American counterparts. Furthermore, Canadian data yield no support for the claim that problems with bankruptcy law result from an over-abundance of small firms in reorganization. The analysis also shows that the Canadian reorganization procedure offers a very rapid solution to financial distress and that creditors gain, in expected value terms, from reorganization over liquidation. Based on our evaluation of the relative performance of both systems, we argue that Chapter 11 be revised rather than repealed. Au cours de la dernière décennie, le Chapitre 11 du U.S. Bankruptcy Code a été l'objet de critiques importantes de la part de juristes et d'économistes américains. Récemment, un certain nombre de ces juristes ont soulevé la possibilité de réformer le Chapitre 11 sur la base du système canadien en matière de réorganisation commerciale. Le but du présent article est de démontrer que l'expérience canadienne en matière de réorganisation commerciale est révélatrice sur les réformes potentielles à apporter au Chapitre 11. Les données canadiennes montrent clairement que les taux d'acceptation, de confirmation et de succès des propositions commerciales sont très élevés. De plus, la probabilité de survie des firmes canadiennes en réorganisation est de dix fois supérieure à celle des firmes américaines. Les données canadiennes permettent également de rejeter l'affirmation selon laquelle l'échec de la procédure de réorganisation origine de son utilisation par les petites entreprises. Qui plus est, la procédure canadienne offre une solution rapide aux entreprises en difficultés financières et un rendement espéré aux créanciers supérieur par rapport à la procédure de liquidation. Sur la base de notre évaluation comparative des deux systèmes d'insolvabilité, nous suggérons la révision plutôt que l'abolition du Chapitre 11.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy C. G. Fisher & Jocelyn Martel, 1996. "Should We Abolish Chapter 11 : Evidence from Canada," CIRANO Working Papers 96s-22, CIRANO.
    • Handle: RePEc:cir:cirwor:96s-22
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    File URL: https://cirano.qc.ca/files/publications/96s-22.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Barthlmy, Fabrice & Fisher, Timothy C.G. & Martel, Jocelyn, 2009. "What discount rate should bankruptcy judges use? Estimates from Canadian reorganization data," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 67-72, March.
    2. Timothy C.G. Fisher & Jocelyn Martel, 2004. "Empirical Estimates of Filtering Failure in Court‐Supervised Reorganization," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 1(1), pages 143-164, March.
    3. Bruno Biais & Thomas Mariotti, 2009. "Credit, Wages, and Bankruptcy Laws," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(5), pages 939-973, September.
    4. Christine Pochet, 2002. "Institutional Complementarities within Corporate Governance Systems: A Comparative Study of Bankruptcy Rules," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 6(4), pages 343-381, December.
    5. Ngo Van Long & Antoine Soubeyran, 1996. "R&D Spillovers and Location Choice under Cournot Rivalry," CIRANO Working Papers 96s-30, CIRANO.
    6. Bart Leyman, 2012. "The uneasy case for rehabilitating small firms under the 1997-reorganization law in Belgium: evidence from reorganization plans," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 533-560, December.
    7. Clas Bergström & Theodore Eisenberg & Stefan Sundgren, 2004. "On the Design of Efficient Priority Rules for Secured Creditors: Empirical Evidence from A Change in Law," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 273-297, December.
    8. Lars-Hendrick Röller & Bernard Sinclair-Desgagné, 1996. "Asymmetry in Cournot Duopoly," CIRANO Working Papers 96s-23, CIRANO.
    9. Gilles Recasens, 2003. "Faut-il adopter un système pro-créanciers de défaillances? Une revue de la littérature," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 6(1), pages 119-153, March.
    10. B. Leyman & K. Schoors & P. Coussement, 2008. "The Role of Firm Viability, Creditor Behavior and Judicial Discretion in the Failure of Distressed Firms under Courtsupervised Restructuring: Evidence from Belgium," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 08/509, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    11. Leyman, Bart & Schoors, Koen J.L. & Coussement, Peter, 2011. "Does court-supervised reorganization work? Evidence from post-confirmation firm failure," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 149-168, September.
    12. Ayadi, Mohamed A. & Lazrak, Skander & Welch, Robert, 2017. "Determinants of bankruptcy regime choice for Canadian public firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 161-172.
    13. Ondøej Knot & Ondøej Vychodil, 2006. "Czech Bankruptcy Procedures: Ex-post Efficiency View," Working Papers IES 2006/03, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Jan 2006.
    14. Lars Vilhuber, 1996. "Wage Flexibility and Contract Structure in Germany," CIRANO Working Papers 96s-28, CIRANO.
    15. Verreydt, Mathias & Dewaelheyns, Nico & Van Hulle, Cynthia, 2022. "Time is money: An analysis of the time-to-failure in a flexible reorganization system," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bankruptcy; Reorganization; Chapter 11; Bankruptcy Act; Faillite; Réorganisation; Chapitre 11; Loi sur la faillite;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation

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