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Shareholder Protection around the World ("Leximetric II")

Author

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  • Mathias Siems

Abstract

This article analyzes how shareholder protection has developed in 20 countries from 1995 to 2005. In contrast to traditional legal research, it draws on a quanti-tative methodology to law ("leximetrics", "numerical comparative law"). Some of its results are that in most countries shareholder protection has improved in the last years; that developed countries perform better than developing countries in protecting shareholders; that shareholder protection in common law countries is relatively similar whereas there is no comparable similarity within the Ger-man and French civil law families; that German corporate law is "more main-stream" and US corporate law is "more eccentric" than the law of the other countries; and that in general there has been convergence in the last decade. In order to explain these results, the distinction between origin and transplant countries can be useful. However, in contrast to previous studies, this does not mean that all depends on the distinction between English, French and German origin and transplant countries. Rather it is decisive (a) which "version" of the corporate law the transplant country copied, (b) whether transplant countries continue to take developments in the origin countries into account and (c) whether transplant countries have left the path of their (former) origin countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathias Siems, 2007. "Shareholder Protection around the World ("Leximetric II")," Working Papers wp359, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
  • Handle: RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp359
    Note: PRO-2
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    File URL: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/cbrwp359/
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Simon Deakin & Ajit Singh, 2009. "The Stock Market, the Market for Corporate Control and the Theory of the Firm: Legal and Economic Perspectives and Implications for Public Policy," Chapters, in: Per-Olof Bjuggren & Dennis C. Mueller (ed.), The Modern Firm, Corporate Governance and Investment, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Simon DEAKIN & Priya LELE & Mathias SIEMS, 2007. "The evolution of labour law: Calibrating and comparing regulatory regimes," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 146(3-4), pages 133-162, September.
    3. Iustina Alina Boitan & Ewa Wanda Maruszewska, 2021. "Corporate governance features among European Union countries – an exploratory analysis," The Review of Finance and Banking, Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti, Romania / Facultatea de Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori / Catedra de Finante, vol. 13(1), pages 79-91, June.
    4. Höpner, Martin & Petring, Alexander & Seikel, Daniel & Werner, Benjamin, 2014. "Liberalization policy: An empirical analysis of economic and social interventions in Western democracies," WSI Working Papers 192, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    5. Prabirjit Sarkar, 2009. "Do the English Legal Origin Countries have More Dispersed Share Ownership and More Developed Financial Systems?," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 73-86.
    6. John Armour & Simon Deakin & Priya Lele & Mathias Siems, 2009. "How Do Legal Rules Evolve? Evidence from a cross-country Comparison of Shareholder, Creditor and Worker Protection," Working Papers wp382, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    7. Deakin, Simon & Sarkar, Prabirjit & Singh, Ajit, 2011. "An end to consensus? the selective impact of corporate law reform on financial development," MPRA Paper 39047, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. John Armour & Simon Deakin & Prabirjit Sarkar & Mathias Siems & Ajit Singh, 2009. "Shareholder Protection and Stock Market Development: An Empirical Test of the Legal Origins Hypothesis," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(2), pages 343-380, June.
    9. Simon Deakin, 2008. "Legal Origin, Juridical Form and Industrialisation in Historical Perspective: The Case of the Employment Contract and the Joint-Stock Company," Working Papers wp369, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    10. Höpner, Martin & Petring, Alexander & Seikel, Daniel & Werner, Benjamin, 2009. "Liberalisierungspolitik: Eine Bestandsaufnahme von zweieinhalb Dekaden marktschaffender Politik in entwickelten Industrieländern," MPIfG Discussion Paper 09/7, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    11. Armour, J. & Deakin, S. & Mollica, V. & Siems, M.M., 2010. "Law and Financial Development: What we are learning from time-series evidence," Working Papers wp399, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    12. Cristina Alexandrina Stefanescu, 2011. "Transparency And Disclosure In European Corporate Governance Codes – Does Issuer Matter?," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 6(1), pages 94-108, April.
    13. Simon Deakin, 2008. "Legal Origin, Juridical Form and Industrialisation in Historical Perspective: The Case of the Employment Contract and the Joint-Stock Company," WEF Working Papers 0042, ESRC World Economy and Finance Research Programme, Birkbeck, University of London.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Shareholder protection; leximetrics; numerical comparative law; law and fi-nance; La Porta et al.; LLSV; comparative company law; comparative corporate law; comparative corporate governance; legal origins; legal families; legal transplants; legal development; convergence; civil law; common law.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G00 - Financial Economics - - General - - - General
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • K00 - Law and Economics - - General - - - General (including Data Sources and Description)
    • K22 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Business and Securities Law
    • N20 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N40 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • P50 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - General

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