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Investor Protection and Interest Group Politics

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  • Lucian A. Bebchuk
  • Zvika Neeman

Abstract

We model how three groups--insiders in existing public companies, institutional investors, and entrepreneurs planning to take firms public--compete for influence over politicians setting the level of investor protection. We identify factors that push toward suboptimal investor protection, including corporate insiders' ability to use public firms' assets to influence politicians, and institutional investors' inability to capture fully the value of investor protection for outside investors. Entrepreneurs and public firms' interest in raising equity capital does not fully eliminate the distortions arising from insiders seeking to extract rents from capital in place. Our analysis produces many testable predictions concerning how investor protection varies over time and around the world. The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org., Oxford University Press.

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  • Lucian A. Bebchuk & Zvika Neeman, 2010. "Investor Protection and Interest Group Politics," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 1089-1119, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:23:y:2010:i:3:p:1089-1119
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    3. Tim Lohse & Christian Thomann, 2015. "Are bad times good news for the Securities and Exchange Commission?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 33-47, August.
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    6. Lucian A. Bebchuk & Michael S. Weisbach, 2012. "The State of Corporate Governance Research," Springer Books, in: Sabri Boubaker & Bang Dang Nguyen & Duc Khuong Nguyen (ed.), Corporate Governance, edition 127, pages 325-346, Springer.
    7. Rachita Gulati, 2022. "Does regulatory under‐compliance with governance standards lead to bank instability? An exploration using Indian data," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 138-180, March.
    8. de La Bruslerie, Hubert, 2016. "Does debt curb controlling shareholders' private benefits? Modelling in a contingent claim framework," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 263-282.
    9. Gerner-Beuerle, Carsten, 2014. "Determinants of corporate governance codes," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 55828, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Douhan, Robin & Norbäck, Pehr-Johan & Persson, Lars, 2009. "Entrepreneurial Innovations, Entrepreneurship Policy and Globalization," Working Paper Series 807, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 23 Jul 2013.
    11. Lohse, Tim & Pascalau, Razvan & Thomann, Christian, 2014. "Public Enforcement of Securities Market Rules: Resource-based evidence from the Securities Exchange Commission," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 364, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    12. Aney, Madhav S. & Banerji, Sanjay, 2022. "Political connections, informational asymmetry, and the efficient resolution of financial distress," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    13. Almaskati, Nawaf & Bird, Ron & Lu, Yue, 2020. "Corporate governance, institutions, markets, and social factors," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    14. Henry L. Friedman & Mirko S. Heinle, 2020. "Influence Activities, Coalitions, and Uniform Policies: Implications for the Regulation of Financial Institutions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(9), pages 4336-4358, September.
    15. Lohse, Tim & Pascalau, Razvan & Thomann, Christian, 2014. "Public enforcement of securities market rules: Resource-based evidence from the Securities and Exchange Commission," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 197-212.
    16. Gao, Ya & Liao, Chi & Zhang, Ying & Zhang, Zixu, 2021. "The role of investor protections on the value of investment banking relationships: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    17. Christian At, 2015. "Shareholder versus Stakeholder Protection and Interest-Group Politics," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 171(3), pages 478-492, September.
    18. Matsuoka, Tarishi & Naito, Katsuyuki & Nishida, Keigo, 2019. "The Politics Of Financial Development And Capital Accumulation," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(1), pages 358-383, January.
    19. Christian At, 2015. "Shareholder vs. Stakeholder Protection and Interest Group Politics," Post-Print halshs-01308188, HAL.
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    21. Wagenhofer, Alfred, 2011. "Towards a theory of accounting regulation: A discussion of the politics of disclosure regulation along the economic cycle," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 228-234.
    22. de La Bruslerie, Hubert & Gueguen, Simon, 2021. "Creditors’ holdup, releveraging and the setting of private appropriation in a control contract between shareholders," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
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    24. Henry L. Friedman & Mirko S. Heinle, 2016. "Lobbying and Uniform Disclosure Regulation," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 863-893, June.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • K22 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Business and Securities Law
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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