DP6658 Creditor Protection, Contagion, and Stock Market Price Volatility
Author(s): | Galina B Hale, Assaf Razin, Hui Tong |
Publication Date: | January 2008 |
Keyword(s): | credit crunch, Probit estimation, Tobin q |
JEL(s): | E1, G2 |
Programme Areas: | International Macroeconomics |
Link to this Page: | cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=6658 |
We study a mechanism through which strong creditor protection affect positively the level, and negatively the volatility, of the aggregate stock market price. In a Tobin-q model with liquidity and productivity shocks, two channels are at work: (1) Creditor protection raises the stock value in a credit-constraint regime; (2) Creditor protection lowers the probability of the credit crunch. We confront the key predictions of the model to a panel of 40 countries over the period from 1984 to 2004. We find support to the hypothesis that creditor protection have a positive effect on the level, and a negative effect of the volatility, of stock prices, via the negative effect of the creditor protection on the probability of credit crunch.