2022-06-15l 조회수 2096
문의사항은 담당 조교에게 메일(tjalswls33@snu.ac.kr)로 문의 바랍니다.
Legal Uncertainty (with Jiwon Lee and Jan Starmans)
Abstract: In this paper, we assess how legal uncertainty affects economic activity in the context of credit markets and bankruptcy law. We exploit differences in judge biases, combined with a judge rotation system in Korea, that generate time-series and cross-sectional variation in legal uncertainty across different bankruptcy courts. First, we document that bankruptcy filings across courts can be explained by judge biases and legal uncertainty. Second, we show that credit volume declines when legal uncertainty at a given court is high relative to courts in adjacent regions. The effect is concentrated in the riskiest firms that are more likely to be exposed to the bankruptcy process. Changes in interest rates suggest that credit demand (firms) is relatively more sensitive to idiosyncratic drivers of legal uncertainty, whereas credit supply (banks) is relatively more sensitive to systematic drivers of legal uncertainty.