The Dissemination of Firm Information via Company Register Websites: Country-Level Empirical Evidence
67 Pages Posted: 20 Jun 2019
Date Written: June 14, 2019
Abstract
In response to current regulatory initiatives which aim to foster information acquisition and processing across countries, we develop an index model (CR-score) designed to capture the extent of regulated firm information disseminated via company register (CR) websites. In a unique sample of 137 countries, we find consistent evidence that countries with a relatively high level of Internet penetration, those that facilitate cross-border trading, and those with higher governance quality show higher CR-scores. Our findings are robust to several additional tests, including amendments of the index model, the independent variables, and the sample composition. The results are generally in line with theories of regulation and should be of particular interest to regulators and standard setters.
Keywords: company register, firm data dissemination, public interest, regulation, open data
JEL Classification: M41, M42, M48, G18
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation