IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecinqu/v54y2016i1p361-374.html

Does Bankruptcy Law Affect Business Turnover? Evidence From New And Existing Business

Author

Listed:
  • Shawn M. Rohlin
  • Amanda Ross

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="ecin12230-abs-0001"> This study examines how differences in state bankruptcy laws, specifically the homestead exemption, affect business turnover by studying both new and existing businesses. We focus on areas just near state boundaries to control for unobserved local attributes to better isolate the effect of more wealth protection. We find that an increase in the homestead exemption attracts new businesses but also has a positive impact on existing businesses, suggesting that asset protection through bankruptcy law encourages successful entrepreneurs to incur the risks. Our results indicate that the personal bankruptcy law is an important policy tool that governments can use to encourage business growth without causing business turnover. (JEL K30, K36, R11, R1)

Suggested Citation

  • Shawn M. Rohlin & Amanda Ross, 2016. "Does Bankruptcy Law Affect Business Turnover? Evidence From New And Existing Business," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(1), pages 361-374, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:54:y:2016:i:1:p:361-374
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecin.2016.54.issue-1
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michelle White, 2006. "Bankruptcy and small business - lessons from the US and recent reforms," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 4(01), pages 22-26, April.
    2. Primo David M. & Green Wm Scott, 2011. "Bankruptcy Law and Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 1(2), pages 1-22, March.
    3. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon & Sébastien Roux, 2010. "Estimating Agglomeration Economies with History, Geology, and Worker Effects," NBER Chapters, in: Agglomeration Economics, pages 15-66, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. John Armour & Douglas Cumming, 2008. "Bankruptcy Law and Entrepreneurship," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 10(2), pages 303-350.
    5. Jeremy Berkowitz & Michelle J. White, 2004. "Bankruptcy and Small Firms' Access to Credit," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(1), pages 69-84, Spring.
    6. Kenneth Ayotte, 2007. "Bankruptcy and Entrepreneurship: The Value of a Fresh Start," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(1), pages 161-185, April.
    7. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Joulfaian, David & Rosen, Harvey S, 1994. "Sticking It Out: Entrepreneurial Survival and Liquidity Constraints," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(1), pages 53-75, February.
    8. Scott, Jonathan A. & Smith, Terence C., 1986. "The effect of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 on small business loan pricing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 119-140, May.
    9. Rohlin, Shawn M., 2011. "State minimum wages and business location: Evidence from a refined border approach," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 103-117, January.
    10. Evans, David S & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1989. "An Estimated Model of Entrepreneurial Choice under Liquidity Constraints," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 808-827, August.
    11. Rohlin, Shawn & Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Ross, Amanda, 2014. "Tax avoidance and business location in a state border model," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 34-49.
    12. Thomas J. Holmes, 1998. "The Effect of State Policies on the Location of Manufacturing: Evidence from State Borders," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(4), pages 667-705, August.
    13. David Neumark & Junfu Zhang & Brandon Wall, 2007. "Employment Dynamics and Business Relocation: New Evidence from the National Establishment Time Series," Research in Labor Economics, in: Aspects of Worker Well-Being, pages 39-83, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    14. Reint Gropp & John Karl Scholz & Michelle J. White, 1997. "Personal Bankruptcy and Credit Supply and Demand," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 217-251.
    15. Stuart S. Rosenthal & William C. Strange, 2003. "Geography, Industrial Organization, and Agglomeration," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(2), pages 377-393, May.
    16. repec:ces:ifodic:v:4:y:2006:i:1:p:14567417 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Mohammad Arzaghi & J. Vernon Henderson, 2008. "Networking off Madison Avenue," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(4), pages 1011-1038.
    18. repec:eme:rlec11:s0147-9121(06)26002-3 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Wenli Li & Michelle J. White & Ning Zhu, 2011. "Did Bankruptcy Reform Cause Mortgage Defaults to Rise?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 123-147, November.
    20. Edward L. Glaeser & Joshua D. Gottlieb, 2009. "The Wealth of Cities: Agglomeration Economies and Spatial Equilibrium in the United States," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(4), pages 983-1028, December.
    21. Michelle White, 2006. "Bankruptcy and small business - lessons from the US and recent reforms," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 4(1), pages 22-26, 04.
    22. Fan, Wei & White, Michelle J, 2003. "Personal Bankruptcy and the Level of Entrepreneurial Activity," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(2), pages 543-567, October.
    23. Hoyt Bleakley & Jeffrey Lin, 2012. "Portage and Path Dependence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(2), pages 587-644.
    24. Yongwook Paik, 2013. "The Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005 and Entrepreneurial Activity," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 259-280, June.
    25. John Haltiwanger & Ron S. Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2013. "Who Creates Jobs? Small versus Large versus Young," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 347-361, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pankaj C. Patel & Srikant Devaraj, 2021. "The state‐level exemption changes in Chapter 7 protection and entrepreneurial activity in the United States," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(5), pages 1089-1104, July.
    2. Xu, Xincheng & Xu, Buguo, 2025. "The inhibitory effect of personal bankruptcy laws on household debt: Evidence from a pilot program," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Luca Farè & Marcus Dejardin & Eric Toulemonde, 2024. "Bankruptcy recovery rate and small businesses’ innovation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(32), pages 3870-3903, July.
    4. Adam Nowak & Amanda Ross & Christopher Yencha, 2018. "Small Business Borrowing And Peer‐To‐Peer Lending: Evidence From Lending Club," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(2), pages 318-336, April.
    5. Takanori Adachi & Takanori Hisada, 2017. "Gender differences in entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship: an empirical analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 447-486, March.
    6. Alessandro Melcarne & Giovanni B. Ramello, 2020. "Bankruptcy delay and firms’ dynamics," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 405-419, February.
    7. Deyo, Darwyyn & Plemmons, Alicia, 2022. "Have license, will travel: Measuring the effects of universal licensing recognition on mobility," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    8. Chong Kyoon Lee & Johan Wiklund & Alejandro Amezcua & Tae Jun Bae & Almantas Palubinskas, 2022. "Business failure and institutions in entrepreneurship: a systematic review and research agenda," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1997-2023, April.
    9. Carlianne Patrick & Amanda Ross & Heather Stephens, 2016. "Designing Policies to Spur Economic Growth: How Regional Scientists Can Contribute to Future Policy Development and Evaluation," Working Papers 16-04, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    10. Lee, Jungho & Xu, Jianhuan, 2019. "Tax uncertainty and business activity," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 158-184.
    11. Victoria Perez & Joseph A. Benitez & Justin Ross, 2021. "Too small to fail: The role of Medicaid in mitigating pandemic‐related fiscal strain on local governments," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 74-97, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amanda Ross & Shawn Rohlin, 2013. "State Bankruptcy Law and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from a Border Analysis," ERSA conference papers ersa13p253, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Pankaj C. Patel & Srikant Devaraj, 2021. "The state‐level exemption changes in Chapter 7 protection and entrepreneurial activity in the United States," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(5), pages 1089-1104, July.
    3. repec:ces:ifodic:v:13:y:2016:i:4:p:19191583 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Frank M. Fossen & Johannes König, 2016. "Personal Bankruptcy Law and Entrepreneurship," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(4), pages 28-34, 02.
    5. Frank M. Fossen & Johannes König, 2016. "Personal Bankruptcy Law and Entrepreneurship," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(04), pages 28-34, February.
    6. Fossen, Frank M., 2011. "Personal bankcuptcy law, wealth and entrepreneurship - Theory and evidence from the introduction of a 'fresh start'," Discussion Papers 2011/8, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    7. Yongwook Paik, 2013. "The Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005 and Entrepreneurial Activity," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 259-280, June.
    8. Rohlin, Shawn & Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Ross, Amanda, 2014. "Tax avoidance and business location in a state border model," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 34-49.
    9. Akyol, Ahmet & Athreya, Kartik, 2011. "Credit and self-employment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 363-385, March.
    10. Yannis Georgellis & Howard J. Wall, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and the policy environment," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 88(Mar), pages 95-112.
    11. Geraldo Cerqueiro & Deepak Hegde & María Fabiana Penas & Robert C. Seamans, 2017. "Debtor Rights, Credit Supply, and Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(10), pages 3311-3327, October.
    12. Takanori Adachi & Takanori Hisada, 2017. "Gender differences in entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship: an empirical analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 447-486, March.
    13. Ye (George) Jia, 2015. "The impact of personal bankruptcy law on entrepreneurship," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(2), pages 464-493, May.
    14. Sadeghi, Ali & Kibler, Ewald, 2022. "Do bankruptcy laws matter for entrepreneurship? A Synthetic Control Method analysis of a bankruptcy reform in Finland," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    15. repec:ces:ifodic:v:13:y:2016:i:4:p:19191579 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Muravyev, Alexander & Talavera, Oleksandr & Schäfer, Dorothea, 2009. "Entrepreneurs' gender and financial constraints: Evidence from international data," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 270-286, June.
    17. Saul Estrin & Tomasz Mickiewicz & Anna Rebmann, 2017. "Prospect theory and the effects of bankruptcy laws on entrepreneurial aspirations," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 977-997, April.
    18. Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley & Shawn Rohlin, 2013. "How Does Bankruptcy Law Impact the Elderly's Business and Housing Decisions?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(2), pages 417-451.
    19. Jeffrey Traczynski, 2016. "Personal Bankruptcy and Social Insurance," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(4), pages 23-27, 02.
    20. Geraldo Cerqueiro & María Fabiana Penas, 2017. "How Does Personal Bankruptcy Law Affect Startups?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(7), pages 2523-2554.
    21. Edward L. Glaeser & Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2015. "Entrepreneurship and Urban Growth: An Empirical Assessment with Historical Mines," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(2), pages 498-520, May.
    22. Paul Verstraten & Gerard Verweij & Peter Zwaneveld, 2017. "Understanding employment decentralization by estimating the spatial scope of agglomeration economies," CPB Discussion Paper 342, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • K30 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - General
    • K36 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Family and Personal Law
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:54:y:2016:i:1:p:361-374. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.