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Shareholder Protection and the Cost of Capital

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  • Joel F. Houston
  • Chen Lin
  • Wensi Xie

Abstract

Do shareholder protection laws affect the corporate cost of capital? To identify the causal impact of shareholder protection laws on firms' implied cost of capital, we exploit the staggered adoption across 23 US states of universal-demand laws, which place significant obstacles to derivative lawsuits and thus undermine shareholders' litigation rights. Using a sample of public US firms between 1985 and 2013, we find that weakened litigation rights for shareholders materially increase firms' implied cost of capital. We further show that the curtailing of shareholders' rights leads to a deterioration in information quality, increased risk-taking, and more severe insider expropriation, all of which contribute to heightened financing costs. Overall, our findings indicate that weakened litigation rights for shareholders lead them to face greater agency conflicts and higher market risk, which ultimately translates into higher required returns.

Suggested Citation

  • Joel F. Houston & Chen Lin & Wensi Xie, 2018. "Shareholder Protection and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(4), pages 677-710.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlawec:doi:10.1086/700269
    DOI: 10.1086/700269
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    Cited by:

    1. Leonard Leye Li & Gary S. Monroe & Jeff Coulton, 2023. "Managerial litigation risk and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from universal demand laws," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 196-232, March.
    2. Liu, Wei & Tian, Gary Gang, 2022. "Controlling shareholder share pledging and the cost of equity capital: Evidence from China," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(6).
    3. Ying Huang & Ningzhong Li & Yong Yu & Xiaolu Zhou, 2020. "The Effect of Managerial Litigation Risk on Earnings Warnings: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1161-1202, December.
    4. Islam, Emdad & Rahman, Lubna, 2023. "Shades of grey: Risk-related agency conflicts and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Donelson, Dain C. & Kettell, Laura & McInnis, John & Toynbee, Sara, 2022. "The need to validate exogenous shocks: Shareholder derivative litigation, universal demand laws and firm behavior," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1).
    6. Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Habib, Ahsan, 2023. "Consequences of state-level regulations in accounting, finance, and corporate governance: A review," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    7. Berger, Allen N. & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Roman, Raluca A., 2022. "Geographic deregulation and banks’ cost of equity capital," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    8. Feng Chen & Qingyuan Li & Li Xu, 2021. "Universal demand laws and the monitoring demand for accounting conservatism," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(7-8), pages 1246-1289, July.
    9. Chen Lin & Sibo Liu & Gustavo Manso, 2021. "Shareholder Litigation and Corporate Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3346-3367, June.
    10. Zhang, Huilin & Boubaker, Sabri & Ni, Xiaoran, 2024. "Litigating payouts or not? Evidence from universal demand laws," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 136-153.
    11. Do, Trung K., 2021. "Shareholder litigation rights and corporate payout policy: Evidence from universal demand laws," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    12. Muhammad Farhan Malik & Yuan George Shan & Jamie Yixing Tong, 2022. "Do auditors price litigious tone?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1715-1760, April.
    13. Nicolae Stef, 2021. "Institutions and corporate financial distress in Central and Eastern Europe," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 57-87, August.
    14. Nguyen, Nam H. & Phan, Hieu V. & Lee, Eunju, 2020. "Shareholder litigation rights and capital structure decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    15. Yiwei Li & Wei Song & Tingyu Sun & Qingjing Zhang, 2023. "The impact of shareholder litigation risk on income smoothing," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1379-1413, November.
    16. Xin Wang & Jiacai Xiong & Caiyue Ouyang & Feida Zhang, 2023. "I Feel Your Pain: The Effect of Regulator as a Minority Shareholder on Merger and Acquisition Performance," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 59(1), pages 437-465, March.
    17. Degl'Innocenti, Marta & Fiordelisi, Franco & Song, Wei & Zhou, Si, 2023. "Shareholder litigation and bank risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    18. Li, Tongxia & Lu, Chun & Si, Ieong Cheng & Zhao, Zucheng, 2022. "Employment protection and the cost of equity capital: Evidence from wrongful discharge laws," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    19. Alona Bilokha & Sudip Gupta, 2024. "Shareholder litigation rights and firm productivity," Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(2), pages 65-90, May.

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