We study the effect of debtor protection on business dynamism. We find that greater debtor protection, in the form of more lenient personal bankruptcy laws, increases firm entry only in sectors requiring low start-up capital. We also find that debtor protection increases firm exit and job destruction rates among young small firms. This negative effect takes 3 years to materialize and is persistent. Finally, we provide evidence consistent with two mechanisms underlying these changes in business dynamism: a reduction in credit supply and entry of lower-quality firms following increases in debtor protection.

中文翻译：

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债务人保护与商业活力

我们研究了债务人保护对企业活力的影响。我们发现，以更宽松的个人破产法的形式来加强对债务人的保护，只会在需要低启动资金的行业中增加公司的进入。我们还发现，债务人保护提高了年轻小企业的企业退出率和工作破坏率。这种负面影响需要3年的时间才能实现并持续存在。最后，我们提供了与商业动力发生这些变化的两种基本机制相一致的证据：减少信贷供应，以及随着债务人保护的增加，劣质公司的进入。