By Aras Canipek (University of Konstanz), Axel H. Kind (University of Konstanz), and Sabine Wende (University of Cologne – Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences)
Stronger creditor rights reduce credit costs and thus may allow firms to increase leverage and investments, but also increase distress costs and thus may prompt firms to lower leverage and undertake risk-reducing but unprofitable investments. Using a German bankruptcy reform, we find evidence on average consistent with the latter hypothesis. We also hypothesize and find evidence that the effect of creditor rights on corporate leverage and investments depends on the firm type, as it influences the effect creditor rights have on credit costs and distress costs and thus which effect dominates. For example, our findings suggest that stronger creditor rights are costly for large firms, for which the effect of creditor rights on distress costs should outweigh the effect on credit costs, but beneficial for small firms, for which the effect on credit costs should outweigh the effect on distress costs. Our understanding not only reconciles the mixed empirical evidence of existing studies, but also has important implications for optimal bankruptcy design. In particular, our findings are contrary to a widely held opinion that bankruptcy law should be uniform and balance the effect of creditor rights on credit costs and distress costs. Rather, they point to a menu of procedures in which a debtor-friendly and creditor-friendly procedure co-exist and thus allow different types of firms to utilize the procedure that suits them best. If such a menu is not possible, our analysis suggests that countries should choose a debtor-friendly or creditor-friendly procedure, depending on the most important firm type in the country.
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