Law and Firms' Access to Finance

Beck, Thorsten ; Demirgü ; ç ; -Kunt, Asli ; Levine, Ross

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGGREGATE INDICATOR;    APPLICABLE LAW;    BANKING SECTOR;    BUREAUCRACY;    BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-3194
RP-ID  :  WPS3194

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Why does a country's legal origininfluence its firms' access to finance? Using data fromover 4,000 firms in 38 countries, the authors show thatfirms in countries with French legal origin facesignificantly higher obstacles in accessing external financethan firms in common law countries. Next, their resultsindicate that French legal origin countries tend to have (1)less adaptable legal systems, as defined by the degree towhich case law and principles of equity rather than simplystatutory law are accepted foundations of legal decisions,and (2) less politically independent judiciaries, as definedby the degree of tenure of supreme court judges and theirjurisdiction over cases involving the government. Finally,the authors find that the adaptability of a country'slegal system is more important for explaining the obstaclesthat firms face in contracting for external finance than thepolitical independence of the judiciary. So, theydistinguish among competing explanations of why law mattersfor financial development by empirically documenting thelinks running from international differences in legal originto the operation of the financial system at the firm level.