We demonstrate the central importance of creditors' ability to use “movable” assets as collateral (as distinct from “immovable” real estate) when borrowing from banks. Using a unique cross-country micro-level loan dataset containing loan-to-value ratios for different assets, we find that...

We demonstrate the central importance of creditors' ability to use movable assets as collateral (as distinct from immovable real estate) when borrowing from banks. Using a unique cross-country micro level loan data set containing loan-to-value ratios for different assets, we find that...

We show that laws and institutions that strengthen creditor protection increase expected recovery rates on collateral using unique internal bank data on ex-ante appraised liquidation values and market values of assets pledged as collateral from secured loans in 16 countries. Stronger creditor...