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Should Courts Enforce Credit Contracts Strictly ?

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  • Alberto ZAZZARO

    (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia)

Abstract

The linkages between law and finance are currently the centre of wideranging empirical investigations. This article analyse the effects of legal system efficiency on the functioning of the credit market by using a simple banking model with information asymmetries about borrowers'entrepreneurial talent. It is shown that improvements in the enforcement of contracts by courts reduce agency problems, but can also reduce banks' incentive to adequately screen borrowers, thus worsening credit allocation and social welfare. Improvements in accounting standards, however, always make bank screening of borrowers less costly and improve credit allocation.

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto ZAZZARO, 2003. "Should Courts Enforce Credit Contracts Strictly ?," Working Papers 181, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    • Handle: RePEc:anc:wpaper:181
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    Cited by:

    1. Pietro Alessandrini & Andrea F. Presbitero & Alberto Zazzaro, 2009. "Banks, Distances and Firms' Financing Constraints," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 13(2), pages 261-307.
    2. Kalyvas, Antonios Nikolaos & Mamatzakis, Emmanuel, 2017. "Do creditor rights and information sharing affect the performance of foreign banks?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 13-35.
    3. Eric Tassel, 2022. "Relationship Lending and Liquidation Under Imperfect Information," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 151-165, February.
    4. Anyangah, Joshua O., 2017. "Creditor rights protection, tort claims and credit," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 29-43.
    5. Kalyvas, Antonios Nikolaos & Mamatzakis, Emmanuel, 2014. "Does business regulation matter for banks in the European Union?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 278-324.
    6. Luca Papi & Emma Sarno & Alberto Zazzaro, 2017. "The geographical network of bank organizations: issues and evidence for Italy," Chapters, in: Ron Martin & Jane Pollard (ed.), Handbook on the Geographies of Money and Finance, chapter 8, pages 156-196, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Bing Xu, 2017. "Permissible collateral and access to finance: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Working Papers 1750, Banco de España.
    8. Renato BALDUCCI, 2005. "Public Expenditure and Economic Growth. A critical extension of Barro's (1990) model," Working Papers 240, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    9. Strauss, Jason David, 2008. "Uberrimae Fidei and Adverse Selection: the equitable legal judgment of Insurance Contracts," MPRA Paper 10874, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Charles Yuji Horioka & Shizuka Sekita, 2009. "Are Fast Court Proceedings Good or Bad ? : Evidence from Japanese Household Panel Data," Working Papers 0916, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    11. repec:zbw:bofitp:2018_003 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Pietro ALESSANDRINI & Andrea PRESBITERO & Alberto ZAZZARO, 2006. "Banks, Distances and Financing Constraints for Firms," Working Papers 266, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    13. Régis Blazy & Bertrand Chopard & Agnès Fimayer, 2008. "Bankruptcy law: a mechanism of governance for financially distressed firms," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 253-267, June.
    14. Hainz, Christa, 2007. "The Effect of Bank Competition on the Bank's Incentive to Collateralize," Discussion Papers in Economics 2007, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    15. Giombini, Germana & Teobaldelli, Désirée & Schneider, Friedrich, 2018. "Interaction effect of tax evasion and legal system inefficiency on firms' financial constraints," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-20.
    16. Xu, Bing, 2018. "Permissible collateral and access to finance: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," BOFIT Discussion Papers 3/2018, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    17. Xu, Bing, 2019. "Permissible collateral and access to finance: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 237-255.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    accounting standards; credit allocation; law enforcement; screening;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • K41 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Litigation Process
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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