We use data on stock portfolios of Norwegian households to show that stock market wealth increases entrepreneurship by relaxing financial constraints. Our research design isolates idiosyncratic variation in household-level stock market returns. An increase in stock market wealth increases the...

Does the owner of a share of stock in Mexico have the same rights as one in Germany or India? Is a creditor in Italy as well protected as one in Switzerland? Do laws protecting investors differ among countries in systematic ways? Are they sufficiently enforced everywhere? And if there are...