产权保护重要吗来自产权法执行的证据(英文文献)

DOPROPERTYRIGHTSMATTER?EVIDENCEFROMAPROPERTYLAWENACTMENTDanielBerkowitzUniversityofPittsburgh,Pittsburgh,PA15260Email:[e-mail][e-mail]@cityu.edu.hkNovember21,2013ABSTRACTChina’s2007PropertyLawgavecreditorsmorerightsovertheassetsunderlyingtheirsecuredloanstoprivatefirmsandcheckedthepoweroflocalgovernmentstoexpropriateprivatefirms’assets.Existingtheoriessuggestthattheenactmentofthisreformshouldhaveledtoanincreaseinfirmvalueforseveralreasons.First,checksongovernmentpowertoexpropriateprivateassetsalongwiththeenhancementofcreditorrightsmakesthetangiblecapitalunderlyingsecuredloansmorevaluabletocreditorsand,asaconsequence,firmsshouldgainimprovedaccesstoexternalfinanceforpositiveNPVprojects.Second,ifafirmfacesalowerriskofgovernmentexpropriation,itshouldbemorewillingtoinvestinpositiveNPVprojects.Wealsoarguethatthebeneficialimpactofthislawonfirmvalueshouldhavebeenmoreprofoundforfirmsthathadalargestockoftangibleassets,smallinternalcashflowsandstronggrowthopportunities,andlessprofoundforpoliticallyconnectedfirms.Ourestimatesandtestsconfirmthesepredictions.Additionaltestssuggestthatincreasedprotectionsfromgovernmentexpropriationenhancedfirmvalueprimarilythroughthestrengtheningofcreditorrights.JELCODES:K11;G31;G38Wethanktheeditor,BillSchwert,andananonymousrefereeforveryhelpfulcomments.WealsothankDaveDenis,DianeDenis,AndrewEllul,JarradHarford,ChristopherJames,TorstenJochem,GershonMandelker,DavidMcLean,,MeijunQian,MicahOfficer,TomRawksi,JayRitter,AndreiShleifer,ChaoXi,YuhaiXuanandseminarparticipantsattheKatzSchooloftheUniversityofPittsburgh,JamesMadisonUniversity,RenminUniversity,UniversityofHongKong,WesternVirginiaUniversity,the2012NBERworkshopontheChineseeconomy,the2013conferenceonfindingtherightbalanceofregulationforeconomicdevelopmentheldbyChineseUniversityofHongKongfortheircomments.WealsothankMichaelDu,XinHe,JoyceMannandMoeZhangforcarefullyexplainingthedetailsofthe2007PropertyLaw.WethankPennieWongforhelpwithdatacollection.LingratefullyacknowledgesthefinancialsupportfromtheUniversityofHongKongandtheResearchGrantsCouncil(RGC)ofHongKong(ProjectNo.T31/717/12R).BerkowitzisgratefultoTsinghuaUniversityforprovidingasupportiveresearchenvironmentduringthecourseofthreevisits.21.IntroductionPropertyrightsareafundamentalconceptineconomicsandfinance.AsLevine(p.61,2005)pointsout,thesecurityofpropertyrights...isnotanaturaloccurrence;ratheritisanoutcomeofpolicychoicesandsocialinstitutions.Giventheimportanceofthetopic,recentliteraturehasexploredhowcrosscountrydifferencesincolonialoriginsandnaturalendowmentsshapepropertyrightswhich,inturn,causelongruncountry-levelgrowth(LaPortaetal.,1998;Acemogluetal.,2001;ShleiferandWolfenzon,2002;Becketal.,2003;BeckandLevine,2005;Levine,2005).Atthefirmlevel,Becketal.,(2005)andLaPortaetal.(2002)alsoshowthatlegalinstitutionsthatprovidepropertyrightsprotectionenhancefirmvalueandgrowth.Existingtheoriessuggestthatpropertyrightsprotectionsshouldenhancefirmvaluebecauseoftheirimpactonbothfirm-levelinvestmentandfinancingdecisionsandonthewillingnessofcreditorstomakeexternalfinanceavailable.Afirmisatriskofgettingpoorreturnsonitsinvestmentsifitsgovernmentcaneasilygrabprivateassetsandifitsgovernmentdoesnotprovidefundamentalprotectionsofpropertyrights(e.g.ShleiferandVishny,2002).Firmsoperatinginanenvironmentwithinsecurepropertyrightsareuncertainabouttheirabilitytokeepthefruitsoftheireffortsandasaconsequence,decreasetheirinvestmentactivities(North,1990;CullandXu,2005)andhavealowermarketvaluation.Furthermore,creditorslimittheirsupplyoffinancewhentheirrightstoseizecollateralfromafirmthatisindefaultonaloanortoreceivecompensationfromafirmthatdegradesitscollateralareweak(Djankovetal.,2008)And,creditorsarelesswillingtomakeloanstofirmswhoseassetscanbeeasilyexpropriated.Afirmthushasweakaccesstoexternalfinanceforinvestmentandalowermarketvaluationwhencreditorrightsovertheassetsunderlyingitssecuredloansareweakandwhenthefirm’spropertyrightprotectionsoveritsassetsareweak.3Despitetheimportanceofpropertyrights,evidenceoftheirimpactatthefirmlevelislimited.Usingcross-sectionalenterprisesurveydata,Johnson,McMillanandWoodruff(2002)andCullandXu(2005)findthatpropertyrightsaffectafirm’sincentivestoreinvestretainedprofits.InthispaperweanalyzeChina’s2007PropertyLawinordertounderstandtheeffectsofpropertyrightsonfirmvalue.The2007PropertyLawcontainedprovisionsthatbroadlystrengthenedpropertyrightsforprivatefirmsandfortheircreditors(primarilybanks).Thelawcheckedthepoweroflocalgovernmenttoexpropriateassetsfromprivatefirms.Thelawalsogavecreditorstherighttoseizetheircollateralifaprivatefirmdefaultedonaloan:moreoversecuredcreditorswouldgetpaidfirstoutoftheproceedsoftheliquidation;and,creditorswerealsogivenassurancesthattheywouldbefullycompensatedifaborrowerdamagedthecollateralunderlyingaloan.Insum,becausethepropertylawsignificantlystrengthenedpropertyrightsforprivatefirms,itsenactmentshouldhavegivenprivatefirmsagreaterincentivebothtoinvestinpotentiallyprofitableprojectsa