A situation of debt is a social situation in which a person or a group of people, having received something of another person or another group of people, with the obligation or the Sentiment of obligation to return something of even value . Insofar as the concept of equality of value is subjective, the feeling of debt is also Subjectif.

In the context of a formal engagement to refund or pay a service, a loan, a well, the concept of debt takes a particular direction, where the obligation of refunding inter alia is imposed by a third: the police force under the terms of the Law. That concerns the Finance then.

In this direction, the debts of a person, a company, a country or an institution are the whole of the sums which it will have to pay for:

• to refund loan S which it contracted, for example near a Banque;
• to regulate load S which it engaged (invoices to be paid, subscriptions, premiums of insurance…), or which is imposed to him (tax S…).

Psychological aspect

The obligation to refund a debt can come from the feeling unpleasant even unbearable to have debts. In this measurement, it comes from the involved in debt person. The obligation can also come from the person having given something and asserting a Return on investment or imposing by the force to be refunded. Lastly, it can come from a Tiers.

Lastly, the concept of debt can be connected to the feeling of guilt by the concept of repair of fault.

Context of the debt

Any organization (association, company, community, private individual) must at least balance its expenditure and its incomes. However, the recourse to the Endettement by loan is justified perfectly when it is a question of financing profitable Investissement S, or to face situations of temporary deficit.

The debt is managed same manner according to the type of nobody (Natural person or Moral person).

It is necessary to make the distinction between the current liability (to be paid immediately or in a very near future) and the long-term debt. Countries can be in crisis of debts only because of the current liabilities, while being solvent on the long run.

Debt of the households

In France, a private individual does not have the right to make bankruptcy; a procedure of Surendettement was installation for the most dramatic cases (however, the procedure of civil bankruptcy applies to the natural persons having their residence in Alsace and the Moselle, particularism inherited the German right).

For a few years, there has existed a solution for the households " mal-endettés". This solution consists in gathering its loans in progress thanks to a new loan which will be contracted over one longer duration. That makes it possible to release from the treasury by strongly decreasing its monthly payments and thus to avoid a dramatic situation. The new monthly payment will be calculated on a ratio from approximately 35% of the assessed incomes.

Lastly, the debt of the households considered as a whole represents a Economic aggregate. A too high debt of the households, especially if it is with fluctuating rate (i.e. interest rate to be paid on a debt contracted in the past follows the evolution of the current Interest rates), is a potential brittleness for the saving in a country, which is prone to Financial crises or falls of consumption in the event of brutal tax raises (the American debt of the households S is often quoted in example).

In France, the households are slightly involved in debt, in comparison with the others developed Pays. The ratio debt of the households on credits net of the households is into 2007 of 13,84%. The debt accounts for 68,4% of the incomes available of the households.

Debt of the companies

A private company which is in a state of Suspension of payment is subjected to a procedure, envisaged by the Code of the trade, of File for bankruptcy, or if there does not exist obviously possibility of rectification, Compulsory liquidation, and in this case ceases existing.

To avoid this end, the private companies (but that also applies to the state enterprises) use various strategies: reduction of the loads by rationalization of the systems of production, abandonment of the nonprofitable branches which either are liquidated, or externalized, nonstrategic transfers of credits (real estate for example) or recapitalisation by the Actionnaire S.

• the communities cannot be put in bankruptcy by definition, since they can always resort to the tax (in some limiting, confers Courbe of Laffer).

• the public corporation S cannot be put in bankruptcy because they are an emanation of the concerning State public law, and for this reason are excluded from the procedures of rectification and compulsory liquidation of the Commercial law. However, in the case of the public corporations related to commercial industrial and (EPIC) whose activity concerns the competitive sector, the possibilities of intervention of the State are limited within the European framework.
• the state enterprises of private statute (public limit companies) can be put in bankruptcy in theory if the State decides more to make them profit from public allocations, either by purely budgetary decision, or pursuant to European standards (to avoid the distortions of Concurrence).

Certain companies of private law must or also had to face colossal debts authorized by banks, which grêvent their profitability for several years (Alstom, the Crédit Lyonnais in 1993, Eurotunnel, France Telecom or Vivendi are old cases among most famous in France).

Debt of the public administrations

See also: national Debt

The majority of the States in the world are involved in debt; the measured debt is that of the whole of the Public administrations. Some State S are surendettés, and are found of this fact in a situation without exit. In this case, debts are deferred or partially cancelled (confers Club of Paris).

Debt of the developing countries

See also: Debt of the third world

A debt of approximately 2500 billion dollars was accumulated by the Developing country. The responsibility returns from there to the bad management, even corruption, on the level of the debtor countries, but also with the policy of loans of the creditor countries.

In 1996 was launched the initiative PPTE (assistance with the Poor Countries Heavily In debt, English HIPC), which was to profit to forty country. But five years later, only one fortnight profited from it fully, the others not having been able to reach the conditions posed in term of financial orthodoxy in the management of the public expenditure and conditioning with measurements of disengagement of the state of the private sector.

The creditor countries meet in abstract a structure known as Club of Paris, which gathers 19 country.

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