I show that patents are pledged as collateral to raise significant debt financing, and that the
pledgeability of patents contributes to the financing of innovation. In 2013, 38% of US …

We quantify the importance of collateral versus taxes for firms' capital structures. We
estimate a dynamic model in which a taxable firm seeks financing for investment, and a …

This paper takes as its point of departure the financing technique referred to as"
securitization," a close cousin of secured lending that has grown to enormous size since its …

This article argues that legal changes over the last eighty years eroded the doctrine of secret
liens and thereby led to the financial crisis of 2008. Because of these legal changes …

In General Motors' historic bankruptcy, investment bank JP Morgan learned a hard lesson
about the effect of property law on contractual priority. Although the debtor promised the …

It is often said that banks are not subject to the ordinary bankruptcy regime because
bankruptcy is a negative cash flow event for banks.'While traditional companies that file …

Blockchain-enabled smart contracts create self-executing transactions that automatically
capture assets to satisfy obligations. They are a form of asset partitioning. Some scholars …

I use US Census microdata to analyze the effect of stronger creditor rights on productivity.
Following the adoption of antirecharacterization laws that give lenders greater access to the …

Securitization is one of the most significant legal and business innovations of the last 30
years. Securitization transforms receivables-residential or commercial mortgage loans …

This paper studies how the ease of repossessing collateral in bankruptcy affects corporate
leasing policy. Using plausibly exogenous variation of the ability to repossess assets …