The pro-debtor and pro-creditor models – comparison of the effectiveness of bankruptcy law

Research background: Bankruptcy in court proceedings has been of interest to researchers for many years. Researchers look for internal and external factors which influence the effectiveness and efficiency of bankruptcy proceedings; for example, the impact of the country’s level of development on the efficiency of bankruptcy proceedings, a system of incentives for the active participation of creditors in bankruptcy proceedings to increase their recovery rate, and mechanisms which encourage the early filing of an application for bankruptcy. Against the background of the research to date, a research gap was identified in the scope of the impact of the bankruptcy (pro-debtor/pro-creditor) law model on the effectiveness of the calculated recovery rate for creditors. The research fills a cognitive gap in New Institutional Economics by examining formal institutions in action, i.e. whether bankruptcy law meets its objectives in practice.Purpose of the article: The aim of the article is to answer the question of which model answers the expectations of stakeholders – creditors who expect the highest possible rate of return. Poland is an example of a country where since 2016 there has been a change in the model of bankruptcy law from pro-creditor to pro-debtor.Methods: The authors of the article conducted constant monitoring of the effectiveness of bankruptcy law in Poland through the examination of bankruptcy proceedings filed in bankruptcy and restructuring courts. The research on the efficiency of bankruptcyproceedings was based on the analysis of files from bankruptcy proceedings conducted at the District Court in Warsaw. The analysis covered the period i) from 01.01.2004 to 31.12.2015 n=150 files of the pro-creditor model of bankruptcy proceedings and ii) from 01.01.2016 to 31.12.2019 n=66 files of the pro-debtor model of bankruptcy proceedings. The statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics Program Version 26. The Kruskal–Wallis H non-parametric test was employed.Findings & Value added: The results of the research show that the new pro-debtor model of bankruptcy proceedings implemented in Poland after 31 December 2015 is less effective than the previous pro-creditor model of bankruptcy proceedings. In the pro-creditor model, creditors’ interests are managed more effectively. Practice shows that frequent changes in the law and model of bankruptcy law do not contribute to its effectiveness and efficiency. It seems that the stabilization of legal solutions is an important factor. The legal activity should be aimed at improving the solutions in force and their consolidation in the case law. Unfortunately, in Poland, entrepreneurs as well as citizens, due to its communist past, do not trust the legal system, formal institutions or other people (ESS 2020). For this reason, the pro-debtor model of bankruptcy proceedings may also have a negative impact on the development of Polish entrepreneurship in the future. To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have made a comparison of the effectiveness of the pro-creditor and pro-debtor models of bankruptcy proceedings in a transition country such as Poland. Research data encompassing 16 years over the period of 2004–2019 used in the analysis is unprecedented in bankruptcy procedure studies in the post‑transition economies. Also, a set of indicators showing the effectiveness of bankruptcy proceedings employed in the research is unique.