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Law and Finance: Common-law and Civil-law Countries Compared

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Abstract
The "law and finance theory" is an ambitious and fascinating attempt to combine insights from the theory of corporate finance, institutional economics, legal and economic history as well as the recent studies on the determinants of economic growth into an encompassing theory, thereby filling important gaps of our understanding of the ultimate causes and linkages underlying modern economic development. It argues that the legal system, which today's countries inherited from the past, is crucial in the way it is favouring - or hampering - financial development. The major conclusion of this literature is that the common law system generally provided the more favourable basis for financial development and economic growth, and on the other hand, the French branch of the civil law tradition is the least favourable in this respect. This paper identifies a number of problems that cast serious doubt on the soundness of the empirical basis generally referred to in this literature. However, our analyses support the idea that the legal tradition has pronounced effects with respect to shareholder protection. In particular, while a critical look at the indicators revealed that there is not much evidence that common law countries protect financial investors better than civil law countries, we find support for the view that investors are treated differently.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Graff, 2005. "Law and Finance: Common-law and Civil-law Countries Compared," KOF Working papers 05-99, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    • Handle: RePEc:kof:wpskof:05-99
    DOI: 10.3929/ethz-a-004957428
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine, 2008. "Legal Institutions and Financial Development," Springer Books, in: Claude Ménard & Mary M. Shirley (ed.), Handbook of New Institutional Economics, chapter 11, pages 251-278, Springer.
    2. Ajit Singh & Bruce Weisse & Alaka Singh, 2002. "Corporate governance, competition, the new international financial architecture and large corporations in emerging markets," Working Papers wp250, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
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    6. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2002. "Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1231-1294.
    7. 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.
    8. Enrico Perotti & Ernst-Ludwig von Thadden, 2002. "The Political Economy of Bank- and Market Dominance," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 02.14, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie, revised Apr 2003.
    9. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December.
    10. Becht, Marco, 1999. "European corporate governance: Trading off liquidity against control," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(4-6), pages 1071-1083, April.
    11. Da Rin, Marco, 1997. "Finance and technology in early industrial economies: the role of economic integration," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 171-200, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Olga Pogrebennyk, 2014. "Code or court: the financial-political aspect of correlation between common and civil law," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 175-181, April.
    2. Jérôme Sgard, 2006. "Do legal origins matter? The case of bankruptcy laws in Europe 1808-1914," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01021354, HAL.
    3. Michael Graff, 2013. "Legal origin and financial development: new evidence for old claims? The creditor rights index revisited," International Journal of Trade and Global Markets, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(4), pages 326-344.
    4. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/6824 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Michael Graff, 2006. "Myths and Truths: The "Law and Finance Theory" Revisited," KOF Working papers 06-122, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    6. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/6824 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6824 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6824 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Jérôme Sgard, 2006. "Do legal origins matter? The case of bankruptcy laws in Europe 1808-1914," Post-Print hal-01021354, HAL.

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