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Are Russian Commercial Courts Biased? Evidence from a Bankruptcy Law Transplant

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Author Info
Ariane Lambert-Mogiliansky (PSE (CNRS, EHESS, ENPC, ENS) Paris)
Konstantin Sonin () (New Economic School/CEFIR and CEPR)
Ekaterina Zhuravskaya () (New Economic School/CEFIR and CEPR)

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Abstract

We study the nature of judicial bias in bankruptcy proceedings following the enactment of the 1998 bankruptcy law in Russia. The two main findings are as follows. First, regional political characteristics affected judicial decisions about the number and types of bankruptcy proceedings initiated after the law took effect. Controlling for indicators of firms’ insolvency and the quality of the regional judiciary, re-organization procedures were significantly more frequent in regions with politically popular governors and governors who had hostile relations with the federal center. Poor judicial quality was also associated with higher incidence of re-organizations. Second, the quality of the regional judiciary ffected performance of firms under the re-organization procedure: in regions with low quality judges, firms that were re-organized according to the 1998 law had significantly lower growth in sales, labor productivity, and product variety compared to firms not subject to bankruptcy proceedings. In contrast, in regions with high quality judges, firms in re-organization outperformed firms not in bankruptcy proceedings. This effect of judicial quality on the performance of re-organized firms was stronger when governors were politically popular. These findings are consistent with the view that politically strong governors subverted enforcement of the 1998 bankruptcy law.

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Paper provided by Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR) in its series Working Papers with number w0099.

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Length: 34 pages
Date of creation: Mar 2007
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Handle: RePEc:cfr:cefirw:w0099

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
H77 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  5. Janos Kornai & Eric Maskin & Gerard Roland, 2003. "Understanding the Soft Budget Constraint," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(4), pages 1095-1136, December.
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  14. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Berkovitch, Elazar & Israel, Ronen, 1999. "Optimal Bankruptcy Laws across Different Economic Systems," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(2), pages 347-77.
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  20. Sonin, Konstantin, 2003. "Provincial Protectionism," CEPR Discussion Papers 3973, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2005. "The Evolution of Precedent," NBER Working Papers 11265, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  25. Daniel Berkowitz & Karina Pistor & Jean-Francois Richard, 2001. "Economic Development, Legality, and the Transplant Effect," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 410, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross Business School. [Downloadable!]
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Régis Blazy & Bertrand Chopard & Agnès Fimayer & Jean-Daniel Guigou, 2007. "Financial versus Social Efficiency of Corporate Bankruptcy Law: the French Dilemma?," Working Papers of CREFI-LSF (Centre of Research in Finance - Luxembourg School of Finance) 07-02, CREFI-LSF, University of Luxembourg. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. David N. DeJong & Daniel Berkowitz, 2008. "Growth in Post-Soviet Russia: A Tale of Two Transitions," Working Papers 369, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Economics, revised Sep 2008. [Downloadable!]
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