Legal shareholder protection and corporate R&D investment

Gang Xiao

Journal of Corporate Finance, 2013, vol. 23, issue C, 240-266

Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of shareholder protection law on corporate R&D investment. I find that the institutional protection of shareholder benefits reduces both underinvestment and overinvestment in R&D projects. Legal shareholder rights significantly increase R&D investment for firms that may underinvest, but reduce R&D for firms that may overinvest. Shareholder protection further enhances the growth of firms in R&D intensive industries, and promotes the economic growth of innovative countries. The results consistently show that enforcing stronger legal shareholder protection can help firms achieve an overall more efficient capital allocation to productive R&D investment.

Keywords: Shareholder protection; R&D; Underinvestment; Overinvestment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G15 G31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:corfin:v:23:y:2013:i:c:p:240-266

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2013.08.009

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