Do property rights matter? Evidence from a property law enactment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Berkowitz, Daniel; Lin, Chen; Ma, Yue
• 署名单位: Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); University of Pittsburgh; University of Hong Kong; City University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2015.04.003
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 583-593
• 关键词: Property rights; Creditor rights; expropriation risk; Asset tangibility; political connections

摘要

This paper considers a property law enactment that gave creditors more rights over the assets underlying their secured loans to private firms and gave private firms more protections against the potential expropriation of their assets. We find that this property law enactment led to a significant increase in firm value. We also find that the law's impact on value was more profound for firms with more tangible assets, lower internal cash flows, and stronger growth opportunities, and less profound for politically connected firms. Taken together, our findings confirm the importance of property rights protection in enhancing firm value. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.