IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cen/wpaper/16-31.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Creditor Rights and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Fraudulent Transfer Law

Author

Listed:
  • Nuri Ersahin
  • Rustom M. Irani
  • Katherine Waldock

Abstract

We examine entrepreneurial activity following the adoption of fraudulent transfer laws in the U.S. These laws strengthen creditor rights by removing the burden of proof from creditors attempting to claw back funds that were transferred out of failing businesses. These laws are particularly important for entrepreneurs whose personal assets are often commingled with those of the venture. Using establishment-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau, we find significant declines in start-up entry, churning among new entrants, and closures of existing ventures after the passage of these laws. Our findings suggest that strengthening creditor rights can, in some circumstances, impede entrepreneurial activity and slow down the process of creative destruction.

Suggested Citation

  • Nuri Ersahin & Rustom M. Irani & Katherine Waldock, 2016. "Creditor Rights and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Fraudulent Transfer Law," Working Papers 16-31, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:16-31
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2016/CES-WP-16-31.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2016
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gustavo Manso, 2011. "Motivating Innovation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1823-1860, October.
    2. 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.
    3. Djankov, Simeon & McLiesh, Caralee & Shleifer, Andrei, 2007. "Private credit in 129 countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 299-329, May.
    4. Vikrant Vig, 2013. "Access to Collateral and Corporate Debt Structure: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 881-928, June.
    5. Erik Hurst & Annamaria Lusardi, 2004. "Liquidity Constraints, Household Wealth, and Entrepreneurship," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(2), pages 319-347, April.
    6. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    7. Adelino, Manuel & Schoar, Antoinette & Severino, Felipe, 2015. "House prices, collateral, and self-employment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 288-306.
    8. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    9. Sumit Agarwal & Souphala Chomsisengphet & Chunlin Liu & Lawrence Mielnicki, 2005. "Impact of State Exemption Laws on Small Business Bankruptcy Decision," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(3), pages 620-635, January.
    10. Kerr, William R. & Nanda, Ramana, 2009. "Democratizing entry: Banking deregulations, financing constraints, and entrepreneurship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 124-149, October.
    11. Giannetti, Mariassunta, 2003. "Do Better Institutions Mitigate Agency Problems? Evidence from Corporate Finance Choices," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 185-212, March.
    12. 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.
    13. Mercedes Delgado & Michael E. Porter & Scott Stern, 2010. "Clusters and entrepreneurship," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 495-518, July.
    14. Calomiris, Charles W. & Larrain, Mauricio & Liberti, José & Sturgess, Jason, 2017. "How collateral laws shape lending and sectoral activity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 163-188.
    15. Glenn Ellison & Edward L. Glaeser & William R. Kerr, 2010. "What Causes Industry Agglomeration? Evidence from Coagglomeration Patterns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(3), pages 1195-1213, June.
    16. Ulf von Lilienfeld‐Toal & Dilip Mookherjee & Sujata Visaria, 2012. "The Distributive Impact of Reforms in Credit Enforcement: Evidence From Indian Debt Recovery Tribunals," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(2), pages 497-558, March.
    17. Acharya, Viral V. & Amihud, Yakov & Litov, Lubomir, 2011. "Creditor rights and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 150-166, October.
    18. Jun Qian & Philip E. Strahan, 2007. "How Laws and Institutions Shape Financial Contracts: The Case of Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(6), pages 2803-2834, December.
    19. Rainer Haselmann & Katharina Pistor & Vikrant Vig, 2010. "How Law Affects Lending," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 549-580, February.
    20. Sujata Visaria, 2009. "Legal Reform and Loan Repayment: The Microeconomic Impact of Debt Recovery Tribunals in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(3), pages 59-81, July.
    21. Viral V. Acharya & Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian, 2009. "Bankruptcy Codes and Innovation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(12), pages 4949-4988, December.
    22. Edward R. Morrison, 2009. "Bargaining around Bankruptcy: Small Business Workouts and State Law," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(2), pages 255-307, June.
    23. Thomas J. Chemmanur & Karthik Krishnan & Debarshi K. Nandy, 2011. "How Does Venture Capital Financing Improve Efficiency in Private Firms? A Look Beneath the Surface," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(12), pages 4037-4090.
    24. William R. Kerr & Ramana Nanda, 2009. "Financing Constraints and Entrepreneurship," Harvard Business School Working Papers 10-013, Harvard Business School.
    25. Murillo Campello & Mauricio Larrain, 2016. "Enlarging the Contracting Space: Collateral Menus, Access to Credit, and Economic Activity," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 349-383.
    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. Dimas Mateus Fazio & Thiago Christiano Silva, 2020. "Housing Collateral Reform and Economic Reallocation," Working Papers Series 522, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    2. Müller, Karsten, 2022. "Busy bankruptcy courts and the cost of credit," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 824-845.
    3. Ms. Rima A Turk, 2015. "Financial Decisions and Investment Outcomes in Developing Countries: The Role of Institutions," IMF Working Papers 2015/038, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Bian, Bo, 2020. "Globally Consistent Creditor Protection, Reallocation, and Productivity," LawFin Working Paper Series 6, Goethe University, Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance (LawFin).
    5. Calomiris, Charles W. & Larrain, Mauricio & Liberti, José & Sturgess, Jason, 2017. "How collateral laws shape lending and sectoral activity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 163-188.
    6. 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.
    7. González, Francisco, 2021. "Creditor rights and entrepreneurship: Evidence from legal changes," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 278-299.
    8. Saibal Ghosh, 2018. "Corporate investment and political federalism: does judicial efficiency matter?," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 263-285, December.
    9. David Schoenherr & Jan Starmans, 2022. "When Should Bankruptcy Law Be Creditor‐ or Debtor‐Friendly? Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(5), pages 2669-2717, October.
    10. Acharya, Viral V. & Amihud, Yakov & Litov, Lubomir, 2011. "Creditor rights and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 150-166, October.
    11. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Chuck C Y Kwok & Ying Zheng, 2021. "The role of creditor rights on capital structure and product market interactions: International evidence," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(1), pages 121-147, February.
    12. Hans Degryse & Vasso Ioannidou & José María Liberti & Jason Sturgess, 2020. "How Do Laws and Institutions Affect Recovery Rates for Collateral?," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(1), pages 1-43.
    13. Cho, Seong-Soon & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Suh, Jungwon, 2014. "Creditor rights and capital structure: Evidence from international data," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 40-60.
    14. Bose, Udichibarna & Filomeni, Stefano & Mallick, Sushanta, 2021. "Does bankruptcy law improve the fate of distressed firms? The role of credit channels," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    15. 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.
    16. Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Yuanyuan & Ye, Yongwei & Zhang, Chengsi, 2021. "Collateral menus and corporate employment: Evidence from China's Property Law," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 686-709.
    17. Yung, Kenneth & Nafar, Nadia A., 2014. "Creditor rights and corporate cash holdings: International evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 111-127.
    18. Thapa, Chandra & Rao, Sandeep & Farag, Hisham & Koirala, Santosh, 2020. "Access to internal capital, creditor rights and corporate borrowing: Does group affiliation matter?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    19. Ongena, Steven & Cerqueiro, Geraldo & Roszbach, Kasper, 2016. "Collateral damage? On collateral, corporate financing and performance," Working Paper Series 1918, European Central Bank.
    20. Safavian, Mehnaz & Sharma, Siddharth, 2007. "When do creditor rights work?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 484-508, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Creditor Rights; Bankruptcy; Entrepreneurship; Creative Destruction; Law and Finance Ersahin;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • K22 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Business and Securities Law
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cen:wpaper:16-31. 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: Dawn Anderson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesgvus.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.