The Brazilian Bankruptcy Law Experiment

Abstract:     
In early 2005 a new bankruptcy law was approved by the Brazilian Congress, taking effect a few months later. The new legislation improved creditor protection and the bankruptcy system’s efficiency. This paper tries to shed some light on the empirical consequences of a bankruptcy reform on a poorly developed credit market. Using data from Brazilian and non-Brazilian firms, we estimated, using three alternative models, the effect of the bankruptcy reform on contractual and non-contractual debt variables. In general, all the models yielded similar results. Concerning contractual debt variables, we found a significant increase in the total amount and in long-term debt and a reduction in the cost of debt. For noncontractual debt variables, we found a reduction in the bank debt to public debt ratio, an increase in the number of domestic loan contracts and no impact on the number of foreign loan contracts.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 41

Keywords: Financing Policy, Bankruptcy, Law

JEL Classification: G32, G33, K2

working papers series