We present a new measure of legal protection of minority shareholders against expropriation by corporate insiders: the anti-self-dealing index. Assembled with the help of Lex Mundi law firms, the index is calculated for 72 countries based on legal rules prevailing in 2003, and focuses on private...

We investigate cross-country determinants of private credit, using new data on legal creditor rights and private and public credit registries in 129 countries. We find that both creditor protection through the legal system and information sharing institutions are associated with higher ratios of...

In cooperation with Lex Mundi member law firms in 109 countries, we measure and describe the exact procedures used by litigants and courts to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent and to collect a bounced check. We use these data to construct an index of procedural formalism of dispute...

We survey the empirical literature analyzing the process of enterprise restructuring in transition economies. The survey provides new insights into the relative effectiveness of different reform policies, and into how this effectiveness varies across regions. We study the effects of...

Growth induces foreign investment, which tends to focus on high-value-added sectors, on larger and more profitable firms, on firms with low debt, and on firms that export a large share of output.Using data on mergers and acquisitions involving Korean firms, Freund and Djankov identify which...

A study of 2,980 corporations in nine East Asian countries finds more than half of those firms being controlled by a single shareholder. Many smaller and older firms are family-controlled. Wealth is very concentrated in some countries, and links between business and government are extensive, so...

We present new data on effective corporate income tax rates in 85 countries in 2004. The data come from a survey, conducted jointly with PricewaterhouseCoopers, of all taxes imposed on quot;the samequot; standardized mid-size domestic firm. In a cross-section of countries, our estimates of the...