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Peter Bergwall

Peter Bergwall

Affiliated researcher

Peter Bergwall

Less repressive and fairer foreclosure. Evidence from a randomized experiment at Kronofogden regarding the possibilities to break economic exclusion

Mindre repressiv och mer rättvis tvångsförsäljning av bostad - Evidens från randomiserat experiment hos Kronofogden gällande möjligheterna att bryta ekonomiskt utanförskap

Author

  • Karl Dahlstrand
  • Peter Bergwall
  • Mikael Lundholm

Summary, in English

Homeowners are facing worse personal finances with high inflation and increasing interest rates. New groups are at risk of overindebtedness and foreclosure. The entire household, including children, are affected by worse health and well-being. This leads to large societal costs. Hence, it is imperative to break the negative cycle of overindebtedness for these households. Foreclosure is enforced by Kronofogden (the Swedish Enforcement Authority) and aims to pay the debts. However, an unintended consequence may be that foreclosure is perceived as repressive. The degree of repression depends on how Kronofogden handles the proceedings. This research project contributes with knowledge about these mechanisms and how they may make it more difficult to break social and economic exclusion by answering the following research question: How repressive are the foreclosure proceedings at Kronofogden?

It is important to understand when and why foreclosure becomes repressive because it may reduce the possibilities to exit overindebtedness as the homeowner’s social network is reduced and their social trust is lowered. Today we have limited knowledge about the mechanisms that make the exercise of public authority unintentionally repressive. The knowledge is relevant for public authoritative proceedings both in Sweden and internationally. The authorities may use this knowledge to adapt their handling protocol to avoid future repression.

Department/s

  • Department of Sociology of Law
  • Lund University Centre for Business Law (Swedish abbr: ACLU)

Publishing year

2023-03-22

Language

English

Document type

Conference paper: abstract

Topic

  • Law and Society

Keywords

  • Foreclosure
  • Swedish Enforcement Authority
  • Overindebtedness
  • Justice
  • Norms
  • Randomized Controlled Trial

Conference name

RCSL - Law, Society and Digital Pasts, Presents and Futures"

Conference date

2023-08-30 - 2023-09-01

Conference place

Lund, Sweden

Status

Inpress

Project

  • Hur påverkar tvångsförsäljningsförfarandet hos Kronofogden gäldenärernas rättviseuppfattningar?

Research group

  • Lund University Centre for Business Law (Swedish abbr: ACLU)