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Are Inventories a Buffer Against Weak Legal Systems?
Author(s) -
Raja Angara V.,
Schaefer HansBernd
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
kyklos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1467-6435
pISSN - 0023-5962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6435.2007.00378.x
Subject(s) - enforcement , business , product (mathematics) , test (biology) , industrial organization , law , paleontology , geometry , mathematics , political science , biology
SUMMARY Weak legal enforcement of contracts leads to inefficient breach and an overall increase in breaches for firms and individuals. We suggest that firms use inventory holdings as a means to counteract weak contract enforcement. We test the hypothesis that firms operating in weak legal environments have a higher ratio of inventories to net sales than firms operating in strong legal environments. Empirical evidence in support of the hypothesis using data from over three hundred comparable firms from fourteen product groups across thirty‐nine countries is presented.