Full Description
This book discusses the role of private law as an instrument to produce financial and social inclusion in a context characterised by the redefinition of the role of the State and by the financialisation of society. By depicting the political and economic developments behind the popular idea of financial inclusion, the book deconstructs that notion, illustrating the existence and interaction of different discourses surrounding it. The book further traces the evolution of inclusion, specifically in the European context, and thus moves on to analyse the legal rules which are most relevant for the purposes of bringing about the financialisation of the citizen. Hence, the author focuses more on four highly topical areas: access to a bank account, access to credit, over indebtedness, and financial education.
Adopting a critical and inter-disciplinary approach, The Financialisation of the Citizen takes the reader through a top-down journey starting from the political economy of financialisation, to the law and policy of the European Union, and finally to more specific private law rules.
Contents
Introduction
I. The Scenario
II. Inclusion, Finance and Private Law
III. Methodology
IV. Structure
1. The Idea of Financial and Social Inclusion
I. Dimensions of Financial and Social Inclusion
II. The Rise of Social Inclusion and Its Merging with Financial Inclusion
III. The Transformations of State and Law
IV. Financialisation
V. Privatised Keynesianism and Democratisation of Finance
VI. The Role of Trust
VII. Passing the Risk
VIII. The Other Side of the Coin
IX. Re-regulation?
2. Financial and Social Inclusion in the European Legal Order
I. An EU Affair
II. Distinguishing the Forms of Inclusion in Europe
A. Financial Inclusion
B. Market Inclusion
C. Social Inclusion
III. A Just or an Inclusive Private Law?
A. Social Inclusion and Social Justice
B. Market Inclusion and Access Justice
IV. The Rise of Inclusion in European Law
A. Social Exclusion
B. Financial Exclusion
V. In European Contract Law
3. Access to a Bank Account
I. A Gateway to the Market
II. Legal Frameworks in Europe
III. The Problems of Overdrafts
IV. EU Involvement
V. The Recommendation
VI. The Problem of Reasonable Costs
VII. The New Directive
4. Access to Credit
I. From a Right to a Bank Account to a Right to Credit?
II. Responsible Lending and the Problem of Self-Interest
III. Responsible Lending and European Contract Law
IV. Access to Information
V. Post-Crisis Responses and the Mortgage Credit Directive
VI. The Public-Private Problem
VII. Financial Stability and Exclusion
VIII. Back to Trust
5. Over-Indebtedness
I. How Much is too Much?
II. Legal Responses
III. Causes of Over-Indebtedness and their Legal Appreciation
IV. A Categorisation of Private Law Responses
to Over-Indebtedness
A. Contract Law Ex Ante Instruments
B. Contract Law Ex Post Instruments
C. Non-Contract Law Instruments
V. European Over-Indebtedness Law
6. Financial Education
I. Just Gonna have to be a Different Man
II. The Rise of the Policy of Financial Education
III. Critical Aspects of the Policy of Financial Education
IV. Interference with Contract Law
Conclusion
