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Law and Finance Matter: Lessons from Externally Imposed Courts

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Listed:
  • James R. Brown
  • J. Anthony Cookson
  • Rawley Z. Heimer

Abstract

This paper provides novel evidence on the real and financial market effects of legal institutions. Our analysis exploits persistent and externally imposed differences in court enforcement that arose when the U.S. Congress assigned state courts to adjudicate contracts on a subset of Native American reservations. Using area-specific data on small business lending, we find that reservations assigned to state courts, which enforce contracts more predictably than tribal courts, have stronger credit markets. Moreover, the law-driven component of credit market development is associated with significantly higher per capita income, with stronger effects in sectors that depend more on external financing.Received April 24, 2015; accepted March 7, 2016 by Editor Robin Greenwood.

Suggested Citation

  • James R. Brown & J. Anthony Cookson & Rawley Z. Heimer, 2017. "Law and Finance Matter: Lessons from Externally Imposed Courts," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 1019-1051.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:30:y:2017:i:3:p:1019-1051.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhw030
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Brown, James R. & Cookson, J. Anthony & Heimer, Rawley Z., 2019. "Growing up without finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(3), pages 591-616.
    2. Gerritse, Michiel, 2021. "Does trade cause detrimental specialization in developing economies? Evidence from countries south of the Suez Canal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    3. Da Rin, Marco & Di Giacomo, M. & Sembenelli, A., 2018. "Corporate Income Taxation, Leverage at Entry, and the Growth of Entrepreneurial Companies," Discussion Paper 2018-055, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    4. Ani Ter-Mkrtchyan & Aimee L. Franklin, 2020. "Global Financial System Outcomes after 2008: A Longitudinal Comparison," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, March.
    5. Phelan, Gregory & Toda, Alexis Akira, 2019. "Securitized markets, international capital flows, and global welfare," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(3), pages 571-592.
    6. Quentin Dupont & Jonathan M. Karpoff, 2020. "The Trust Triangle: Laws, Reputation, and Culture in Empirical Finance Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 217-238, May.
    7. Christian Dippel & Dustin Frye & Bryan Leonard, 2020. "Property Rights without Transfer Rights: A Study of Indian Land Allotment," NBER Working Papers 27479, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Falavigna, G. & Ippoliti, R., 2021. "Reform policy to increase the judicial efficiency in Italy: The opportunity offered by EU post-Covid funds," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 923-943.
    9. Leonardo M. Klüppel & Lamar Pierce & Jason A. Snyder, 2018. "Perspective—The Deep Historical Roots of Organization and Strategy: Traumatic Shocks, Culture, and Institutions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 702-721, August.
    10. Greta Falavigna & Roberto Ippoliti, 2022. "Financial constraints, investments, and environmental strategies: An empirical analysis of judicial barriers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2002-2018, July.
    11. An, Jiafu & Hou, Wenxuan & Lin, Chen, 2022. "Epidemic disease and financial development," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 332-358.
    12. Camargo, Braz & Stein, Guilherme, 2022. "Credit constraints and human capital policies," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    13. Terry L. Anderson & Dominic P. Parker, 2024. "Culture, sovereignty, and the rule of law: lessons from Indian country," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 199(3), pages 405-419, June.
    14. Dissanaike, Gishan & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Momtaz, Paul P. & Rocholl, Jörg, 2021. "The Economics of Law Enforcement: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Corporate Takeover Law," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    15. Chen Lin & Sibo Liu & Gustavo Manso, 2021. "Shareholder Litigation and Corporate Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3346-3367, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • K40 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - General
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies

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