IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaecon/v79y2025i2s0165410124000727.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Creditor protection and government procurement contracting

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Xiao
  • Ma, Zhiming
  • Ruan, Lufei

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of creditor protection on the choice of government procurement contract types. We use the staggered adoption of anti-recharacterization laws (ARLs) as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the research question. ARLs strengthen creditors’ rights to repossess collateral in bankruptcy and thus enhance creditor protection. Using a dataset of U.S. government contracts, we find a significant shift from the use of fixed-price contracts to cost-plus contracts after the adoption of ARLs. The effect is more pronounced for firms with higher default risk and stronger firm-government ties. We also find that the government is more likely to switch away or reduce the contract value for contractors affected by ARLs. Overall, our findings point to an important relation between debt contracts and government contracts.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Xiao & Ma, Zhiming & Ruan, Lufei, 2025. "Creditor protection and government procurement contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:79:y:2025:i:2:s0165410124000727
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2024.101742
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165410124000727
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jacceco.2024.101742?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bajari, Patrick & Tadelis, Steven, 2001. "Incentives versus Transaction Costs: A Theory of Procurement Contracts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 32(3), pages 387-407, Autumn.
    2. Boland, Matthew & Godsell, David, 2021. "Bureaucratic discretion and contracting outcomes," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Keith J. Crocker & Kenneth J. Reynolds, 1993. "The Efficiency of Incomplete Contracts: An Empirical Analysis of Air Force Engine Procurement," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 24(1), pages 126-146, Spring.
    4. Arturs Kalnins, 2004. "Relationships and Hybrid Contracts: An Analysis of Contract Choice in Information Technology," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 207-229, April.
    5. Favara, Giovanni & Gao, Janet & Giannetti, Mariassunta, 2021. "Uncertainty, access to debt, and firm precautionary behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 436-453.
    6. Karam Kang & Robert A Miller, 2022. "Winning by Default: Why is There So Little Competition in Government Procurement?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(3), pages 1495-1556.
    7. Eckbo, B. Espen & Thorburn, Karin S. & Wang, Wei, 2016. "How costly is corporate bankruptcy for the CEO?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 210-229.
    8. Rainville, Megan & Unlu, Emre & Wu, Juan Julie, 2022. "How do stronger creditor rights impact corporate acquisition activity and quality?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    9. Steven Tadelis, 2009. "Auctions Versus Negotiations in Procurement: An Empirical Analysis," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 25(2), pages 372-399, October.
    10. Fairhurst, Douglas (DJ) & Nam, Yoonsoo, 2023. "Collateral Constraints, Financial Constraints, and Risk Management: Evidence From Anti-Recharacterization Laws," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 805-836, March.
    11. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    12. Yongqiang Chu, 2020. "Collateral, Ease of Repossession, and Leases: Evidence from Antirecharacterization Laws," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(7), pages 2951-2974, July.
    13. Nuri Ersahin & Philip Strahan, 2020. "Creditor Rights, Technology Adoption, and Productivity: Plant-Level Evidence," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(12), pages 5784-5820.
    14. Jonathan Brogaard & Matthew Denes & Ran Duchin & David Denis, 2021. "Political Influence and the Renegotiation of Government Contracts," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(6), pages 3095-3137.
    15. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    16. Daniel Cohen & Bin Li & Ningzhong Li & Yun Lou, 2022. "Major government customers and loan contract terms," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 275-312, March.
    17. Ohlson, Ja, 1980. "Financial Ratios And The Probabilistic Prediction Of Bankruptcy," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 109-131.
    18. Kenneth S. Corts, 2004. "The Effect of Repeated Interaction on Contract Choice: Evidence from Offshore Drilling," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 230-260, April.
    19. Brad Nathan, 2024. "Show Your Hand: The Impacts of Fair Pricing Requirements in Procurement Contracting," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1405-1448, September.
    20. Jonas Heese & Gerardo Pérez‐Cavazos, 2019. "Fraud Allegations and Government Contracting," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 675-719, June.
    21. Shaojin Li & Toni M. Whited & Yufeng Wu, 2016. "Collateral, Taxes, and Leverage," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(6), pages 1453-1500.
    22. Patrick L. Warren, 2014. "Contracting officer workload, incomplete contracting, and contractual terms," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(2), pages 395-421, June.
    23. Najah Attig, 2024. "Relaxed Financial Constraints and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 111-131, January.
    24. Baker, Andrew C. & Larcker, David F. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2022. "How much should we trust staggered difference-in-differences estimates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 370-395.
    25. Raphael Duguay & Thomas Rauter & Delphine Samuels, 2023. "The Impact of Open Data on Public Procurement," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 1159-1224, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ni, Xiaoran & Xu, Jin & Yin, David, 2025. "Are enhanced creditor rights in bankruptcy desirable to shareholders? Evidence from the cost of equity capital," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    2. Janet Gao & Wenting Ma & Qiping Xu, 2023. "Access to Financing and Racial Pay Gap Inside Firms," Working Papers 23-36, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. Carril, Rodrigo & Duggan, Mark, 2020. "The impact of industry consolidation on government procurement: Evidence from Department of Defense contracting," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    4. Zhang, Huilin & Boubaker, Sabri & Ni, Xiaoran, 2023. "Creditor rights and real earnings management: Evidence from quasi-natural experiments," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    5. Klara Granheimer & Per-Erik Eriksson & Tina Karrbom Gustavsson, 2022. "Adaptability in Public Procurement of Engineering Services Promoting Carbon Reduction: An Organizational Control Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    6. Najah Attig, 2024. "Relaxed Financial Constraints and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 111-131, January.
    7. Iossa, Elisabetta & Decarolis, Francesco & de Rassenfosse, Gaétan & Giuffrida, Leonardo Maria & Mollisi, Vincenzo & Raiteri, Emilio & Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 2019. "Buyers' Role in Innovation Procurement," CEPR Discussion Papers 13777, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Wenqin Zhong & Ligang Ren & Mengyi Wang, 2025. "Regulating unproductive contract adaptation: A payment deduction mechanism," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 2237-2248, June.
    9. Omri Even-Tov & Guoman She & Lynn Linghuan Wang & Detian Yang, 2025. "How government procurement shapes corporate climate disclosures, commitments, and actions," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 1968-2014, June.
    10. Ichev, Riste & Valentinčič, Aljoša, 2025. "The effect of impact investing on performance of private firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    11. Allende, Claudia & Atal, Juan Pablo & Carril, Rodrigo & Cuesta, José Ignacio & González-Lira, Andrés, 2024. "Drivers of public procurement prices: Evidence from pharmaceutical markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    12. Rik Chakraborti & Gavin Roberts, 2023. "How price-gouging regulation undermined COVID-19 mitigation: county-level evidence of unintended consequences," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 196(1), pages 51-83, July.
    13. Cirera, Xavier & Comin, Diego & Cruz, Marcio & Lee, Kyung Min & Martins-Neto, Antonio, 2023. "Exporting and Technology Adoption in Brazil," World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(3-4), pages 334-347, October.
    14. Brown, David P. & Muehlenbachs, Lucija, 2024. "The value of electricity reliability: Evidence from battery adoption," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    15. Paul H. Jensen & Robin E. Stonecash, 2004. "The Efficiency of Public Sector Outsourcing Contracts: A Literature Review," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2004n29, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    16. Tan, Ruipeng & Hou, Ke & Wu, Huaqing, 2025. "The cost of biodiversity protection: National Key Ecological Functional Zone and labor demand in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    17. Gibbon, Kayshani & Derwall, Jeroen & Gerritsen, Dirk & Koedijk, Kees, 2025. "Renaming with purpose: Investor response and fund manager behaviour after fund ESG renaming," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    18. Chy, Mahfuz & Kyung, Hoyoun, 2023. "The effect of bond market transparency on bank loan contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2).
    19. Mikhail Mamonov & Anna Pestova & Steven Ongena, 2023. "“Crime and Punishment”? How Banks Anticipate and Propagate Global Financial Sanctions," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp753, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    20. Li, Tongxia & Ang, Tze Chuan ‘Chewie’ & Lu, Chun, 2023. "Employment protection and the provision of trade credit," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).

    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:eee:jaecon:v:79:y:2025:i:2:s0165410124000727. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jae .

    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.