Announcement: A Debtor World: Interdisciplinary Academic Symposium on Debt

                             A DEBTOR WORLD:
              INTERDISCIPLINARY ACADEMIC SYMPOSIUM ON DEBT

                    from the University of Illinois
                 and the American Bankruptcy Institute

               The University of Illinois College of Law
                            May 2 - 3, 2008


      Perhaps the most common American experience today is debt.
      While debt can enable individuals and companies to do
      useful things they would otherwise be unable to do,
      excessive debt can cause serious financial problems for
      individuals, businesses and society at large. Debt is
      pervasive in the U.S. today. According to the latest
      figures from the Federal Reserve, there is almost $30,000
      outstanding in consumer credit and home mortgages for every
      man, woman, and child in the United States. Even on an
      inflation-adjusted basis, that represents a thirteen-fold
      increase since 1946 when the figure was only $2,200. There
      are 900 million credit cards in circulation in the United
      States. Debt growth has not been restricted to consumers.
      Business debt is nine times as large as it was in 1946. Put
      simply, Americans have committed their future cash flows at
      an unprecedented rate.

      Increasing debt loads are not just an American trend. Other
      countries have experienced burgeoning levels of private
      debt. In the past decade, the United States consumer credit
      model has been exported to other countries. Japan, Korea,
      and many western European countries have seen consumer debt
      levels skyrocket. Globalization surely will see high
      consumer debt levels spread to many other countries.


      CONFERENCE GOAL:

      This conference will explore debt as neither a problem nor
      solution but as a phenomenon. Many different academic
      disciplines can make important contributions to help us
      understand why consumers and businesses decide to borrow
      money, what happens to businesses and consumers under a
      heavy debt load, and what norms and institutions societies
      need to encourage the efficient use of debt. Much of this
      knowledge is compartmentalized into intellectual silos that
      are rarely cross-fertilized. The goal of the conference is
      to promote the sharing of this knowledge.


      CONFERENCE SPEAKERS:

      The conference will feature leading U.S. and international
      scholars who have written about debt or issues related to
      debt in a wide range of academic disciplines such as
      sociology, psychology, history, philosophy, law,
      neuroscience, business, economics, finance, strategic
      management, and organizational theory. For detailed bios of
      the speakers, see:

             http://www.abiworld.org/Debt08/speakers.html


      CONFERENCE FORMAT:

      The conference will be held May 2-3, 2008 at the University
      of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois. Each of the principal
      speakers will present a provocative paper on a topic
      related to the incurrence, the collateral effects, or the
      resolution of debt (including resolution through
      bankruptcy, insolvency, or financial distress). Invited
      commentators from a similarly diverse range of disciplines
      will offer thoughts in reaction to each paper presentation
      and moderate an ensuing discussion. The result will be an
      extremely high quality discourse at the podium and in the
      audience and will present new insight into the phenomenon
      of debt today. Attendees will come from the fields of law,
      business, financial, academia and the press. The conference
      papers ultimately will be collected in an edited volume for
      publication through an academic press.

      For practicing attorneys, the conference provides valuable
      CLE credit!

      The keynote speaker is James Scurlock, producer of the
      critically acclaimed 2006 documentary "Maxed Out." The film
      takes viewers on a journey deep inside the American style
      of debt where things seem fine as long as the minimum
      monthly payment arrives on time. With coverage that spans
      from small American towns all the way to the White House,
      the film shows how the modern financial industry really
      works. At times hilarious, at times deeply disturbing,
      Maxed Out forces us to face the consequences of our
      national debt addiction. Scurlock's follow up print work:
      "Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of
      Predatory Lenders" was published last year and further
      highlights the dilemma of pervasive debt in our society.

      Success of the conference will be judged by the interaction
      that comes at the conference and in the years that follow.
      It would be foolish to think that one conference will tear
      down the walls that have compartmentalized academic
      knowledge. This conference, however, might at least punch a
      few holes in those walls, and we invite you to be a part of
      this extraordinary event.


      REGISTRATION:

      To register, please go to:

http://www.abiworld.org/Scriptcontent/regStep0.cfm?CONF_CODE=Debt08
Posted 3/27/08