My dissertation research is an attempt to reconcile the generous nature of the American consumer bankruptcy system with the more restrictive nature of social welfare policies in the United States.  My puzzle is essentially: why would the United States develop a debtor-friendly consumer bankruptcy system based upon the desire to allow debtors to obtain a "fresh start," when in most other instances social policy has developed in a manner that can rightly be called unfriendly to those in need of financial assistance? The questions being asked by this study are: why has the United States developed a consumer bankruptcy system at all?  Why has the consumer bankruptcy regime developed the way it has?  What is the relationship between consumer bankruptcy policy and the development of the American social welfare state, and if there is a relationship, where does consumer bankruptcy fit in the bifurcated welfare state?