IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/8388.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Ex Ante Costs of Violating Absolute Priority in Bankruptcy

Author

Listed:
  • Lucian Arye Bebchuk

Abstract

A basic question for the design of bankruptcy law concerns whether value should be divided in accordance with absolute priority. Research done in the past decade has suggested that deviations from absolute priority have beneficial ex ante effects. In contrast, this paper shows that ex post deviations from absolute priority also have negative effects on ex ante decisions taken by shareholders. Such deviations aggravate the moral hazard problem with respect to project choice - increasing the equityholders' incentive to favor risky projects - as well as with respect to borrowing and dividend decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucian Arye Bebchuk, 2001. "Ex Ante Costs of Violating Absolute Priority in Bankruptcy," NBER Working Papers 8388, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8388
    Note: LE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w8388.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David M. Cutler & Lawrence H. Summers, 1988. "The Costs of Conflict Resolution and Financial Distress: Evidence from the Texaco-Pennzoil Litigation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(2), pages 157-172, Summer.
    2. Philippe Aghion & Oliver D. Hart & John Moore, 1994. "The Economics of Bankruptcy Reform," NBER Chapters, in: The Transition in Eastern Europe, Volume 2, Restructuring, pages 215-244, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Matthew Rhodes-Kropf & S. Viswanathan, 2000. "Corporate Reorganizations and Non-Cash Auctions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1807-1854, August.
    4. Berkovitch, Elazar & Israel, Ronen & Zender, Jaime F., 1998. "The Design of Bankruptcy Law: A Case for Management Bias in Bankruptcy Reorganizations," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 33(4), pages 441-464, December.
    5. Berkovitch, Elazar & Israel, Ronen, 1999. "Optimal Bankruptcy Laws across Different Economic Systems," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 347-377.
    6. Lucian Arye Bebchuk, 1998. "Chapter 11," NBER Working Papers 6473, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Heinkel, Robert & Zechner, Josef, 1993. "Financial Distress and Optimal Capital Structure Adjustments," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(4), pages 531-565, Winter.
    8. Allan C. Eberhart & Lemma W. Senbet, 1993. "Absolute Priority Rule Violations and Risk Incentives for Financially Distressed Firms," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 22(3), Fall.
    9. Bhattacharyya, Sugato & Singh, Rajdeep, 1999. "The resolution of bankruptcy by auction: allocating the residual right of design," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 269-294, December.
    10. Eberhart, Allan C & Moore, William T & Roenfeldt, Rodney L, 1990. "Security Pricing and Deviations from the Absolute Priority Rule in Bankruptcy Proceedings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(5), pages 1457-1469, December.
    11. Bebchuk, Lucian Arye, 2000. "Using options to divide value in corporate bankruptcy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4-6), pages 829-843, May.
    12. Bebchuk, Lucian Ayre & Chang, Howard F, 1992. "Bargaining and the Division of Value in Corporate Reorganization," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 253-279, April.
    13. Michael C. Jensen, 1991. "Corporate Control And The Politics Of Finance," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 4(2), pages 13-34, June.
    14. Gertner, Robert & Scharfstein, David, 1991. "A Theory of Workouts and the Effects of Reorganization Law," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(4), pages 1189-1222, September.
    15. Franks, Julian R. & Torous, Walter N., 1994. "A comparison of financial recontracting in distressed exchanges and chapter 11 reorganizations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 349-370, June.
    16. Brown, David T, 1989. "Claimholder Incentive Conflicts in Reorganization: The Role of Bankruptcy Law," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 2(1), pages 109-123.
    17. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    18. Matthew Rhodes‐Kropf & S. Viswanathan, 2000. "Corporate Reorganizations and Non‐Cash Auctions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1807-1849, August.
    19. Betker, Brian L, 1995. "Management's Incentives, Equity's Bargaining Power, and Deviations from Absolute Priority in Chapter 11 Bankruptcies," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(2), pages 161-183, April.
    20. Hart, Oliver, 1995. "Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288817.
    21. Weiss, Lawrence A., 1990. "Bankruptcy resolution: Direct costs and violation of priority of claims," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 285-314, October.
    22. Povel, Paul, 1999. "Optimal "Soft" or "Tough" Bankruptcy Procedures," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 659-684, October.
    23. Giammarino, Ronald M, 1989. "The Resolution of Financial Distress," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 2(1), pages 25-47.
    24. Warner, Jerold B, 1977. "Bankruptcy Costs: Some Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 337-347, May.
    25. repec:cep:stitep:/1992/250 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. White, Michelle J, 1989. "The Corporate Bankruptcy Decision," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 129-151, Spring.
    27. Gilson, Stuart C. & John, Kose & Lang, Larry H. P., 1990. "Troubled debt restructurings*1: An empirical study of private reorganization of firms in default," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 315-353, October.
    28. Elazar Berkovitch & Ronen Israel, 1998. "The Bankruptcy Decision and Debt Contract Renegotiations," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 2(1), pages 1-27.
    29. Baird, Douglas G., 1991. "The initiation problem in bankruptcy," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 223-232, September.
    30. Berkovitch, Elazar & Israel, Ronen & Zender, Jaime F., 1997. "Optimal bankruptcy law and firm-specific investments," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 487-497, April.
    31. Smith, Clifford Jr. & Warner, Jerold B., 1979. "On financial contracting : An analysis of bond covenants," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 117-161, June.
    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. Calcagno, Riccardo & Renneboog, Luc, 2007. "The incentive to give incentives: On the relative seniority of debt claims and managerial compensation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1795-1815, June.
    2. Galai, Dan & Raviv, Alon & Wiener, Zvi, 2007. "Liquidation triggers and the valuation of equity and debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 3604-3620, December.
    3. 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.
    4. Alexander Dilger, 2006. "Forced to make mistakes: Reasons for complaining about Bebchuk's scheme and other market-oriented insolvency procedures," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 79-94, January.
    5. R. Fischer & C. Bonilla, 2004. "Endogenous Credit Constraints and Factor Market Rigidities: the case of Bankruptcy," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 240, Econometric Society.
    6. Ondøej Knot & Ondøej Vychodil, 2006. "Czech Bankruptcy Procedures: Ex-post Efficiency View," Working Papers IES 2006/03, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Jan 2006.
    7. Michelle J. White, 2005. "Economic Analysis of Corporate and Personal Bankruptcy Law," NBER Working Papers 11536, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Bharath, Sreedhar T. & Panchapegesan, Venky & Werner, Ingrid, 2007. "The Changing Nature of Chapter 11," Working Paper Series 2008-4, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    9. Acharya, Viral V. & Sundaram, Rangarajan K. & John, Kose, 2011. "Cross-country variations in capital structures: The role of bankruptcy codes," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 25-54, January.
    10. Buttwill, Klas & Wihlborg, Clas, 2005. "The Efficiency of the Bankruptcy Process. An International Comparison," Ratio Working Papers 65, The Ratio Institute.

    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. Lucian Arye Bebchuk, 2002. "Ex Ante Costs of Violating Absolute Priority in Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 445-460, February.
    2. Michelle J. White, 2005. "Economic Analysis of Corporate and Personal Bankruptcy Law," NBER Working Papers 11536, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Hege, Ulrich, 2003. "Workouts, court-supervised reorganization and the choice between private and public debt," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 233-269, March.
    4. Bigus, Jochen, 2002. "Bankruptcy law, asset substitution problem, and creditor conflicts," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 109-132, August.
    5. Per Stromberg, "undated". "Conflicts of Interest and Market Illiquidity in Bankruptcy Auctions: Theory and Tests," CRSP working papers 459, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    6. Kalay, Avner & Singhal, Rajeev & Tashjian, Elizabeth, 2007. "Is Chapter 11 costly?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 772-796, June.
    7. John, Kose & Mateti, Ravi S. & Vasudevan, Gopala, 2013. "Resolution of financial distress: A theory of the choice between Chapter 11 and workouts," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 196-209.
    8. Carapeto, Maria, 2007. "An examination of multiple plans in Chapter 11 reorganizations," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 279-293, October.
    9. Martel, Jocelyn, 1996. "Solutions au stress financier," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 72(1), pages 51-78, mars.
    10. Dinev, Nikolay, 2017. "Voluntary Bankruptcy as Preemptive Persuasion," Economics Series 334, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    11. Tashjian, Elizabeth & Lease, Ronald C. & McConnell, John J., 1996. "An empirical analysis of prepackaged bankruptcies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 135-162, January.
    12. Agrawal, Ashwini & González-Uribe, Juanita & Martínez-Correa, Jimmy, 2022. "Measuring the ex-ante incentive effects of creditor control rights during bankruptcy reorganization," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 381-408.
    13. Chopard, Bertrand, 2004. "Enchères, redressement ou liquidation judiciaire," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 80(4), pages 655-669, Décembre.
    14. López Gutiérrez, Carlos & García Olalla, Myriam & Torre Olmo, Begoña, 2009. "The influence of bankruptcy law on equity value of financially distressed firms: A European comparative analysis," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 229-243, September.
    15. Carmen Vargas Pérez & Juan Luis Peñaloza Figueroa, 2017. "Big Data and the Demand for Court and Legal Services," European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 3, September.
    16. Régis Blazy & Bertrand Chopard & Agnès Fimayer & Jean-Daniel Guigou, 2007. "Financial versus Social Efficiency of Corporate Bankruptcy Law: the French Dilemma?," LSF Research Working Paper Series 07-02, Luxembourg School of Finance, University of Luxembourg.
    17. Stanley D. Longhofer, 1997. "Absolute priority rule violations, credit rationing, and efficiency," Working Papers (Old Series) 9710, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    18. Blazy, Régis & Martel, Jocelyn & Nigam, Nirjhar, 2014. "The choice between informal and formal restructuring: The case of French banks facing distressed SMEs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 248-263.
    19. Pascal François & Alon Raviv, 2014. "Heterogeneous Beliefs and the Choice Between Private Restructuring and Formal Bankruptcy," Cahiers de recherche 1401, CIRPEE.
    20. Helwege, Jean & Packer, Frank, 2003. "Determinants of the choice of bankruptcy procedure in Japan," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 96-120, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • K20 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - General

    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:nbr:nberwo:8388. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.