Should Courts Enforce Credit Contracts Strictly?
Abstract
The intimate linkages between law and finance are currently the centre of wide-ranging empirical investigations. This article presents a simple banking model with information asymmetries concerning borrowers' entrepreneurial talent. It is shown that improvements in the enforcement of contract by courts reduce agency problems but can also reduce the bank's incentive to screen borrowers adequately, thus worsening credit allocation. A stricter enforcement of credit contracts, therefore, may be socially harmful even if costlessly achieved. Improvements in accounting standards, however, always make bank screening of borrowers less costly and improve credit allocation and social welfare. Copyright 2005 Royal Economic Society.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Royal Economic Society in its journal The Economic Journal.
Volume (Year): 115 (2005)
Issue (Month): 500 (01)
Pages: 166-184
Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://www.res.org.uk/
More information through EDIRC
Order Information:
Web: http://www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/asp/journal.asp?ref=0013-0133
Related research
Keywords:Other versions of this item:
- Alberto ZAZZARO, 2003. "Should Courts Enforce Credit Contracts Strictly ?," Working Papers 181, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
- G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
- K41 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Litigation Process
- K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Triantis, George G, 1992. "Secured Debt under Conditions of Imperfect Information," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 225-58, January.
- Lucchetti, Riccardo & Papi, Luca & Zazzaro, Alberto, 2001.
"Banks' Inefficiency and Economic Growth: A Micro-Macro Approach,"
Scottish Journal of Political Economy,
Scottish Economic Society, vol. 48(4), pages 400-424, September.
- Riccardo Lucchetti & Luca Papi & Alberto Zazzaro, 2001. "Banks´ Inefficiency and Economic Growth A Micro-Macro Approach," Development Working Papers 153, Centro Studi Luca d\'Agliano, University of Milano.
- Riccardo Lucchetti & Luca Papi & Alberto Zazzaro, 2000. "Banks' inefficiency and economic growth: a micro-macro approach," Heterogeneity and monetary policy 0004, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia Politica.
- Townsend, Robert M., 1988. "Information constrained insurance : The revelation principle extended," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 411-450.
- Gropp, Reint & Scholz, John Karl & White, Michelle J, 1997.
"Personal Bankruptcy and Credit Supply and Demand,"
The Quarterly Journal of Economics,
MIT Press, vol. 112(1), pages 217-51, February.
- Reint Gropp & John Karl Scholz & Michelle White, 1996. "Personal Bankruptcy and Credit Supply and Demand," NBER Working Papers 5653, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Daniela Fabbri & Mario Padula, 2001. "Judicial Costs and Household Debt," CSEF Working Papers 65, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
- Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998.
"Financial Dependence and Growth,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-86, June.
- Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, . "Financial Dependence and Growth," CRSP working papers 344, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
- Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, 1996. "Financial Dependence and Growth," NBER Working Papers 5758, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Beck, Thorsten & Levine, Ross & Loayza, Norman, 2000.
"Finance and the sources of growth,"
Journal of Financial Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 261-300.
- Beck, T.H.L. & Levine, R. & Loayza, N., 2000. "Finance and the sources of growth," Open Access publications from Tilburg University urn:nbn:nl:ui:12-3125520, Tilburg University.
- Beck, Thorsten & Levine, Ross & Loayza, Norman, 1999. "Finance and the sources of growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2057, The World Bank.
- Williamson, Stephen D, 1987.
"Costly Monitoring, Loan Contracts, and Equilibrium Credit Rationing,"
The Quarterly Journal of Economics,
MIT Press, vol. 102(1), pages 135-45, February.
- Stephen D. Williamson, 1984. "Costly Monitoring, Loan Contracts and Equilibrium Credit Rationing," Working Papers 572, Queen's University, Department of Economics.
- Gale, Douglas & Hellwig, Martin, 1985. "Incentive-Compatible Debt Contracts: The One-Period Problem," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 647-63, October.
- Levine, Ross, 1999. "Law, Finance, and Economic Growth," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 8(1-2), pages 8-35, January.
- Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 1998. "Law, Finance, and Firm Growth," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(6), pages 2107-2137, December.
- Claessens, Stijn & Djankov, Simeon & Lang, Larry H. P., 2000. "The separation of ownership and control in East Asian Corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 81-112.
- Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 1999. "Investor Protection: Origins, Consequences, Reform," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1883, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
- Levine, Ross, 1998.
"The Legal Environment, Banks, and Long-Run Economic Growth,"
Journal of Money, Credit and Banking,
Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(3), pages 596-613, August.
- Ross Levine, 1998. "The legal environment, banks, and long-run economic growth," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue Aug, pages 596-620.
- Chan, Yuk-Shee & Kanatas, George, 1985. "Asymmetric Valuations and the Role of Collateral in Loan Agreements," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 17(1), pages 84-95, February.
- Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-deSilanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1999. "Investor Protection: Origins, Consequences, and Reform," NBER Working Papers 7428, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Renato BALDUCCI, 2005. "Public Expenditure and Economic Growth. A critical extension of Barro's (1990) model," Working Papers 240, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
- Charles Yuji Horioka & Shizuka Sekita, 2009.
"Are Fast Court Proceedings Good or Bad?: Evidence from Japanese Household Panel Data,"
Post-Print
halshs-00407674, HAL.
- Charles Yuji Horioka & Shizuka Sekita, 2009. "Are Fast Court Proceedings Good or Bad ? : Evidence from Japanese Household Panel Data," Working Papers 0916, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique (GATE), Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Université Lyon 2, Ecole Normale Supérieure.
- Régis Blazy & Bertrand Chopard & Agnès Fimayer, 2008.
"Bankruptcy law: a mechanism of governance for financially distressed firms,"
European Journal of Law and Economics,
Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 253-267, June.
- Régis Blazy & Bertrand Chopard & Agnès Fimayer, 2007. "Bankruptcy Law: a Mechanism of Governance for Financially Distressed Firms," Working Papers of BETA 2007-33, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
- Hainz, Christa, 2007. "The Effect of Bank Competition on the Bank's Incentive to Collateralize," Discussion Papers in Economics 2007, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
- Pietro Alessandrini & Andrea F. Presbitero & Alberto Zazzaro, 2009. "Banks, Distances and Firms' Financing Constraints," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 13(2), pages 261-307.
- Strauss, Jason David, 2008. "Uberrimae Fidei and Adverse Selection: the equitable legal judgment of Insurance Contracts," MPRA Paper 10874, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- Pietro ALESSANDRINI & Andrea PRESBITERO & Alberto ZAZZARO, 2006.
"Banks, Distances and Financing Constraints for Firms,"
Working Papers
266, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
- Pietro Alessandrini & Andrea F. Presbitero & Alberto Zazzaro, 2007. "Banks, distances, and financing constraints for firms," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue May, pages 205-232.
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ecj:econjl:v:115:y:2005:i:500:p:166-184For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Wiley-Blackwell Digital Licensing) or (Christopher F. Baum).
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

