Reconsidering the Argument about Legal Origins and the Development of Financial Market

2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22730085
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Civil law
• Research Institution: The University of Tokushima
• Principal Investigator: SHIMIZU Masato 徳島大学, 大学院・ソシオ・アーツ・アンド・サイエンス研究部, 准教授 (30434228)
• Project Period (FY): 2010 – 2012
• Keywords: 法と金融 / 所有構造 / 法との起源

Research Abstract

The purpose of this study is to reconsider the argument about therelationship between legal origins and the development of financial markets by critically examining the “Law Matters” Thesis proposed by LLSV from the Japanese academic lawyer’s point of view. In this study, I first organized the preceding studies conducted by economists and lawyers and then I searched the history of the evolution of share ownership structure and laws for minority shareholder protection in several countries. I conclude that the type of corporate governance depends on the ownership structure and the LLSV measurement of the levels of minority shareholder protection has its limitations.