Collaborative Research: Legal Institutions and Doing Business: A Cross-Country Analysis

摘要：法律制度与营商环境：一个跨国分析ayyagari /Maksimovic SES—0550573；[550 . 454]最近的商业学术文献表明，一个国家法律制度的质量对公司开展业务、获得外部融资和发展的能力有重大影响。这项研究具有重要的政策意义，世界银行（World Bank）和美国国际开发署（USAID）等国际机构正在实施在发展中国家建立良好法律制度的项目，以促进这些国家有效的商业环境。本项目解决以下问题：在公司层面：(1)不同规模、所有权结构和法律形式的公司对特定法律问题（如获取法律法规信息、对法规的一致解释、法院的一致性和可执行性以及对维护其产权的法律制度的信心）的看法如何不同？(2)企业面临的法律问题的类型和严重程度是否因法律传统和与经营有关的具体法律（如破产程序）而异？(3)法律问题对企业成长和合同关系（如企业筹集外部融资的能力和与其他企业建立合资企业的倾向）的影响是什么？在宏观层面上：(1)最近在文献中提出的制度理论中，哪一个最能解释企业对产权、司法效率、腐败、犯罪、税收和监管的看法？这些理论如何相互比较？(2)这些制度理论中，哪一个对具体法律（如产权保护）具有强大的因果影响？(3)企业层面对法律挑战感知的差异有多大比例可以用企业特征来解释，又有多大比例可以用国家层面的制度理论来解释？拟议活动的智力价值：本研究对两个方面的文献作出了贡献：所审查的问题和所采用的经验方法。首先，关于制度对企业行为影响的文献中有几个尚未解决的问题。在现有的微观层面文献中，令人费解的是，法律制度的某些特征，如公司对一国法院公正性的看法，本应影响公司业绩，但却似乎没有影响公司业绩。此外，本文没有探讨不同组织形式的公司（合伙企业、有限责任公司）受到法律制度缺陷的不同影响的可能性，以及这些缺陷，无论是单独的还是共同的，都可能对公司绩效产生不利影响。本项目提出的研究将描述法律制度缺陷对处于不同发展水平的国家中不同类型公司的影响。在宏观层面上，其他研究人员试图确定哪些因素可以预测支持有效商业环境的法律制度的存在。因此，例如，一些研究人员声称，基于普通法的法律体系是否被认为比基于民法的法律体系优越，或者一个国家的初始禀赋是否能更好地预测法律制度，这些都是令人感兴趣的。然而，关于普通法法律制度和捐赠基金对企业绩效的重要性存在大量争议。这一争议的一部分是由于在宏观文献中确定因果关系的经验挑战，因为相对较少的观察和许多感兴趣的变量一起变化。虽然现有文献很少关注确定因果关系，但在本项目中，研究人员采用了极端界限分析和最近开发的有向无环图方法等方法，这使他们能够检查不同制度理论对法律保护的直接和间接因果影响。拟议活动产生的广泛影响：本项目所述的研究议程对发展辩论和国际组织具有更广泛的影响，因为它解决了如何最好地将援助和政府行动引向全面发展的问题。这对于审查法律在体制仍处于过渡过程中的前社会主义国家所发生的变化中的作用具有特别的意义。此外，它对政府政策有广泛的影响，政府政策试图在发展中国家建立促进经济发展的机构，特别是建立促进商业和导致成功商业企业成长的法律制度和管理框架。此外，该项目在方法论上的贡献有助于在法律和金融等其他领域的应用。

Abstract: Legal Institutions and Doing Business: A Cross-Country AnalysisAyyagari/Maksimovic SES--0550573; 0550 454Recent academic business literature has shown that the quality of a countrys legal system has a significant effect on firms ability to conduct business, obtain external financing and to grow. This research has had important policy implications, with international agencies such as the World Bank and USAID implementing programs for the development of good legal institutions in developing countries, so as to facilitate effective business environments in these countries.This project addresses the following questions: At the firm-level: (1) How do firms perception of specific legal issues such as the access to information about laws and regulations, consistent interpretation of regulation, consistency and enforceability of courts and confidence in the legal system to uphold their property rights, vary across firms of different sizes, ownership structures and legal forms? (2) Does the type and severity of legal problems faced by firms differ according to legal tradition and specific laws related to doing business such as bankruptcy procedures? (3) What is the impact of legal problems on firm growth and contracting relationships such as its ability to raise external financing and its propensity to enter into joint ventures with other firms? At the macro level: (1) Which of the institutional theories recently advanced in the literature best explain firms perceptions of property rights, judicial efficiency, corruption, crime, taxes and regulation? How do these theories compare against one another? (2) Which of these institutional theories have a robust causal impact on specific laws, such as property rights protection? (3) What proportion of the firm-level variation in the perception of legal challenges can be explained by firm characteristics and what proportion can be explained by the country-level institutional theories?The intellectual merit of the proposed activity: This research contributes to the literature on two fronts: the issues examined and the empirical methodologies adopted. First, there are several unresolved issues in the literature on the impact of institutions on firm behavior. In the existing micro-level literature, it is puzzling that some features of the legal system, such as firms perceptions of the impartiality of a countrys courts, that should affect firm performance, appear not to do so. Further, this literature does not explore the possibility that differently organized firms (partnerships, limited liability corporations) are affected differently by deficiencies in the legal system and that the deficiencies, either individually or together may adversely affect firm performance. The research proposed in this project will characterize the effect of legal system deficiencies on different types of firms in countries at different levels of development.On the macro level, other researchers have attempted to ascertain which factors predict the existence of legal systems that support effective business environments. Thus, for example, it is of interest whether legal systems based on common law are perceived as being superior to those based on civil law, as some researchers claim, or whether a countrys initial endowments are a better predictor of legal institutions. However, there is a great deal of controversy about the importance of common law legal systems and endowments for business performance. A part of this controversy is due to the empirical challenges in identifying causal relations in the macro literature since there are comparatively few observations and many of the variables of interest vary together. While existing literature has paid little attention to ascertaining causal relations, in this project the researchers employ methodologies such as the extreme bounds analysis and also the more recently developed Directed Acyclic Graph methodology,, which allows them to examine direct and indirect causal impacts of the different institutional theories on legal protections. The broad impact resulting from the proposed activity: The research agenda described in this project has much broader implications for the development debate and for international organizations by addressing how aid and government action can be best channeled towards overall development. This has particular relevance in examining the role of law in changes taking place in the former Socialist countries where institutions are still in a process of transition. Moreover, it has wide implications for governmental policy, which attempts to build institutions in developing countries that facilitate economic development, particularly the creation of legal systems and regulatory frameworks that promote commerce and result in the growth of successful business enterprises. Further, the methodological contribution from this project lends itself to application in other areas in law and finance.