IL CONSUMATORE NELL’ECONOMIA DEL DEBITO. Sovraindebitamento, responsabilità e mercato del credito nell’ecosistema digitale

This doctoral thesis examines consumer over-indebtedness as a structural outcome of the contemporary debt-based economy, moving beyond a purely remedial and individualised understanding of the phenomenon. Starting from a historical and systematic reconstruction of civil insolvency and debt relief procedures, the research analyses the evolving relationship between credit, obligation, and liability, highlighting the tensions generated by the progressive weakening of unlimited patrimonial liability and the extensive use of debt discharge mechanisms within credit markets. Within this framework, particular attention is devoted to the role of professional credit providers and to the principle of responsible lending, analysed as a preventive tool aimed at containing over-indebtedness and rebalancing consumer protection with the sustainability requirements of the credit system. The thesis focuses on creditworthiness assessment obligations and on the legal consequences arising from their breach, exposing the structural limits of a regulatory model predominantly grounded in consumer information duties. The final part of the research addresses the impact of financial market digitalisation and the growing reliance on algorithmic credit scoring systems, situating consumer over-indebtedness within the context of the digital economy and data-driven markets. By engaging with behavioural economics and European Union law on data protection and artificial intelligence, the thesis highlights the risks of opacity, discrimination, and automated decision-making in credit allocation processes, while questioning the transformation of the notion of creditworthiness and the emerging forms of intermediary liability. The thesis ultimately argues for the need to complement remedial instruments with a preventive regulation of credit, capable of governing the economic and technological dynamics underlying consumer over-indebtedness and of restoring coherence between market efficiency, consumer protection, and systemic stability.