Insolvency Process in Germany and the insol database: A Research Note

This research note links the legal framework of the insolvency process of German firms to the information available in the newly-constructed insol database. In particular, the database contains information from documents published by German insolvency courts in period 2005- 2022. This research note first presents the insolvency process with steps and events of the process as determined by the Insolvency Law (InsO). Next, it classifies the documents to specific steps and events, and then presents their information content using textual analysis. Specifically, we identify target phrases via manual document checks and then create regular expressions for the target phrases. Classification of documents allows us to sketch most common paths that insolvent firms go through.