تاثیر چارچوب قانونی و نهادی در ساختار مالی شرکت های اقتصادی جدید در کشورهای در حال توسعه

This paper analyses the impact of the legal and institutional framework on the financial architecture of new economy firms in developing countries. Apart from the more conventional institutional and legal barriers, which are advanced by the recent law and finance literature, the analysis in this paper focuses on the importance of the information and communications technologies (ICT) environment, as a potentially important barrier to the development of the business sector in general, and new economy firms in particular. This analysis confirms the importance of this ICT environment for (a) the asset structure (and the creation of intangible assets), (b) for the financial structure, and ultimately, (c) for firm growth. JEL

The importance of the institutional and legal environment for the development of financial markets and economic growth only recently attracted attention of research in corporate finance, in particular the so-called law and finance literature. This new research area was initiated by the seminal papers of La Porta et al., 1997 and La Porta et al., 1998. These papers focused on investigating the relationship between a country’s legal framework and its financial development. In their first paper, La Porta et al. (1998) examine whether laws on investor protection differ across countries and whether these differences matter for corporate finance. Investors’ rights, in La Porta et al. (1998), are both shareholder rights as well as creditor rights. The different bundles of rights to which an investor is entitled are determined by laws and are not inherent in the securities themselves, implying that legal rules matter. In line with comparative legal scholars, La Porta et al. (1998) classify the national legal systems of 49 countries into four families of law.1 Their results show that investor protection is determined by the legal family to which a country belongs. In a follow-up article La Porta et al. (1997) show that the legal environment is highly relevant for the size and extent of a country’s capital markets. An investor is only willing to surrender funds to a company in exchange for securities, if he is protected against expropriation by management. A good legal environment, as measured by both legal rules and the quality of enforcement, therefore expands the ability of companies to raise external finance through either debt or equity. Using three equity measures (ratio of stock market capitalization to GNP, the number of listed domestic companies and the number of initial public offerings) their regression results show that low shareholder protection causes smaller equity markets as well as lower access of firms to external equity. Similar results are found with regard to the debt market. Using two different indicators,2 their results show that debt finance is more accessible in common law than in French civil law countries. To conclude, La Porta et al. (1997) offer strong evidence that the legal framework has a large effect on the size and the breath of capital markets across countries. Examining the impact of property rights and the enforcement of these laws using a sample of 39 countries, Claessens and Laeven (2003) extend the existing law and finance literature. Their empirical results not only show that weaker legal frameworks diminish the availability of external resources, but also show an asset-substitution effect, i.e. the investment in more fixed assets relative to intangible assets compared to firms operating in a strong legal environment, because of weaker (intellectual) property rights. This is of crucial importance for new economy firms because such firms depend heavily on the investment in intangible assets. An over-allocation of resources towards tangible assets will then impede future growth opportunities of such firms. Especially for new economy firms the asset substitution will be as important as the finance effect of a weak legal framework. Their overall results show that weaker property rights are associated with lower firm growth because of these two effects: less financing and underinvestment in intangible assets. Again, this paper adds to the growing amount of evidence provided by the law and finance literature that the legal framework matters and that it is of crucial importance for explaining financial behavior of companies and investors. The finding of the law and finance literature that the legal environment is a crucial factor contributing to the development of financial markets, is important because recent research shows a clear link between the development of financial markets and economic growth. Several recent empirical studies find a link between financial development and economic growth. King and Levine (1993) find a relationship between indicators of financial development and indicators of economic growth. The empirical results in Levine and Zervos (1998) show a statistically significant relationship between initial stock market development and subsequent economic growth. Financial development can enhance subsequent economic growth in several ways (e.g., Levine, 1997; Beck et al., 2000): enhanced savings, capital accumulation, efficiency improvements and technological innovation. The link between legal framework and economic growth is clear: investor protection enhances financial development, which in turn accelerates economic growth. So, from a development point of view, the legal framework is an important element for creating economic growth. A recent analysis of this direct link between financial development, financing structures, legal framework and firm growth is also presented in the work of Rajan and Zingales (1998). The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides some data on the development of new economy in developing countries, while Section 3 provides an overview of the relevant legal and institutional barriers in these countries. Section 4 contains the empirical analysis, which measures the impact of the legal and institutional framework on the asset structure, the capital structure and firm growth of new economy firms in developing countries. After formulating the hypotheses in Section 4.1, the data set is described in Section 4.2 and the results are presented in Section 4.3. Section 5 contains the conclusions.

This paper aimed at determining the obstacles for an appropriate financial architecture of new economy firms in developing countries by reviewing the theoretical and some preliminary empirical underpinnings of the importance of legal and institutional barriers. Apart from the more conventional institutional and legal barriers, which are advanced by the recent law and finance literature, the analysis in this paper focuses on the importance of the ICT environment, as a potentially important barrier to the development of the business sector in general, and new economy firms in particular. This preliminary analysis confirms the importance of the legal environment in general, and also of the legal environment related to ICT issues in particular, not only for asset allocation (and the creation of intangibles) and for the financial structure of firms, but ultimately also for firm growth in developing countries. As a policy recommendation, further attention should be given to reducing the barriers that impede the creation of intangibles and to develop a more adequate overall legal framework and also a ICT-related legal framework for ICT companies in order to bridge the digital divide between developed and developing countries and to stimulate overall firm growth.