TY  - JOUR
AU  - Djankov,Simeon
AU  - McLiesh,Caralee
AU  - Shleifer,Andrei
TI  - Private Credit in 129 Countries
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 11078
PY  - 2005
Y2  - January 2005
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11078
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11078.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Simeon Djankov
min
E-Mail: sdjankov@minfin.bg

Caralee McLiesh
The World Bank
1818 H Street
Washington, DC 20433
E-Mail: cmcliesh@worldbank.org

Andrei Shleifer
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Littauer Center M-9
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-5046
Fax: 617/496-1708
E-Mail: ashleifer@harvard.edu
AB  - 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 private credit to GDP, but that the former is relatively more important in the richer countries. An analysis of legal reforms also shows that improvements in creditor rights and in information sharing precede faster credit growth. We also find that creditor rights are extremely stable over time, contrary to the convergence hypothesis. Finally, we find that legal origins are an important determinant of both creditor rights and information sharing institutions.
ER  -