Consumer bankruptcy systems in the United States and around the world have undergone unprecedented changes and stresses in recent years. Dramatic economic and technological developments have transformed the nature of consumer credit markets and consumer credit relations, unleashing competition and consumer choice, while simultaneously increasing opportunities for strategic use of bankruptcy. Increased personal mobility and broad societal changes have tended to erode traditional norms or the stigma that traditionally constrained bankruptcy. These many simultaneous pressures have dramatically affected our understanding of the consumer bankruptcy system, both in theory and in the impact that theory holds for consumer bankruptcy law and policy.