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Law and Finance: Common Law and Civil Law Countries Compared—An Empirical Critique

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  • MICHAEL GRAFF

Abstract

The ‘theory of law and finance’ argues that the common law system provides a better framework for financial development and economic growth than the civil law tradition. This paper identifies a number of problems that cast doubt on the soundness of the empirical basis of this literature. However, this analysis supports the idea that the legal tradition is a major factor in shaping corporate law. In particular, while there is not much evidence that common law countries protect financial investors better than civil law countries I find support for the assumption that financial investors are treated differently across legal families.

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  • Michael Graff, 2008. "Law and Finance: Common Law and Civil Law Countries Compared—An Empirical Critique," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(297), pages 60-83, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:75:y:2008:i:297:p:60-83
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0335.2007.00596.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine, 2008. "Legal Institutions and Financial Development," Springer Books, in: Claude Ménard & Mary M. Shirley (ed.), Handbook of New Institutional Economics, chapter 11, pages 251-278, Springer.
    2. von Thadden, Ernst-Ludwig & Perotti, Enrico, 2003. "The Political Economy of Bank and Equity Dominance," CEPR Discussion Papers 3914, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Mr. Giovanni Favara, 2003. "An Empirical Reassessment of the Relationship Between Finance and Growth," IMF Working Papers 2003/123, International Monetary Fund.
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    Cited by:

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    6. Erkan, Asligul & Fainshmidt, Stav & Judge, William Q., 2016. "Variance decomposition of the country, industry, firm, and firm-year effects on dividend policy," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1309-1320.
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    8. Acheson, Graeme & Campbell, Gareth & Turner, John D., 2019. "Private Contracting, Law and Finance," QBS Working Paper Series 2019/05, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    9. Glauco De Vita & Chengchun Li & Yun Luo, 2022. "Legal origin and financial development: A propensity score matching analysis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 535-553, January.
    10. Babajide Fowowe, 2014. "Law and Finance Revisited: Evidence from African Countries," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 82(2), pages 193-208, June.
    11. D’Amico, Daniel J. & Williamson, Claudia, 2015. "Do legal origins affect cross-country incarceration rates?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 595-612.
    12. Bruno Emmanuel Ongo Nkoa & Thierry Mamadou Asngar & Charles Christian Atangana Zambo & Donald Ferdinand Okere Atanga, 2023. "Does institutional quality accelerate the growth of financial markets in Africa?," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 1-26, April.
    13. Nakabayashi, Masaki, 2019. "From family security to the welfare state: Path dependency of social security on the difference in legal origins," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 280-293.
    14. Dionysia Katelouzou & Mathias Siems, 2015. "Disappearing Paradigms in Shareholder Protection: Leximetric Evidence for 30 Countries, 1990-2013," Working Papers wp467, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    15. Giofré, Maela, 2013. "Investor protection rights and foreign investment," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 506-526.
    16. Wolfgang Breuer & Bushra Ghufran & Astrid Juliane Salzmann, 2020. "Investors' time preferences and takeover performance," Post-Print hal-02508909, HAL.
    17. Aitzaz Ahsan Alias Sarang & Nicolas Aubert & Xavier Hollandts, 2021. "Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Cash Holdings," Finance, Presses universitaires de Grenoble, vol. 42(1), pages 7-49.
    18. Troilo, Michael & Walkup, Brian R. & Abe, Masato & Lee, Seulki, 2019. "Legal systems and the financing of working capital," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 641-656.
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    20. Christian Keuschnigg & Evelyn Ribi, 2010. "Business Taxation, Corporate Finance and Economic Performance," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2010 2010-04, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.

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