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Creditor rights, financial health, and corporate investment efficiency

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  • González, Francisco

Abstract

This paper analyzes the influence of creditor rights on investment efficiency and how firms’ financial health shapes this influence. Using time-series changes within a country and cross-country variations in creditor rights, I find that stronger protection of creditors improves investment efficiency in healthy firms but worsens it in distressed firms. The impact on investment efficiency operates more through changes in overinvestment than in underinvestment. Alternative proxies for creditor rights control for both contractual and enforcement rights. The results are robust to alternative model specifications and to controls for omitted variables.

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  • González, Francisco, 2020. "Creditor rights, financial health, and corporate investment efficiency," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:51:y:2020:i:c:s1062940818300779
    DOI: 10.1016/j.najef.2018.11.002
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate investment; Creditor rights; Financial health; Overinvestment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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