Using firm-level data from 52 countries, the authors investigate how a country's institutions and business environment affect firms'organizational choices and the effects of organizational form on access to finance and growth. They find that businesses are more likely to choose the corporate...

Using balance sheet information for nearly 6,000 firms between 1994-2003, this study investigates recent firm financing patterns in India. The paper documents the overall use of debt and, in particular, the role of bank financing (short-term and long-term), trade credit, intrabusiness group...

The recent literature on law and finance has drawn attention to the importance of creditor rights in influencing the development of financial systems and in affecting firm corporate governance and financing patterns. Recent financial crises have also highlighted the importance of insolvency...

Using a large sample of data on mid-sized firms in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, the authors compare the performance of privatized and state firms in the environment of the postcommunist transition. They find strong evidence that private ownership--except for worker ownership--...

The privatization of infrastructure companies is expected to bring about gains for customers by increasing the efficiency of the privatized company. Because many infrastructure industries are not competitive, attention has focused on the development of regulatory regimes that replicate the...

The author examines the effect of product and geographic diversification on firm value for a sample of 1,914 corporations in 18 countries. His results indicate that both product and geographic diversification destroy value at high levels of diversification, suggesting that agency and influence...

The authors identify the ultimate ownership structure for 2,980 corporations in nine East Asian countries. They find that: A) More than half of those firms are controlled be a single shareholder. B) Smaller firms and older firms are more likely to be family-controlled. C) Patterns of controlling...

The author examines the effect of legal bonding on ownership and control structures of foreign firms cross-listing in the United States. Contrary to the predictions of corporate governance convergence theories, there is little evidence of convergence-related migration to a dispersed ownership...

Control of corporate assets by wealthy families in economies lacking institutional integrity is common. It has negative implications on corporate governance and adverse macroeconomic effects when it extends across a sufficiently large part of the country's corporate sector. The authors consider...

The authors investigate whether ownership structure significantly affects the performance of publicly listed firms in China and if so, in what way. With publicly listed stocks, one can quantify the ownership mix and concentration, which makes it possible to study this issue. The authors use the...