"Investor Protection in Latin America" represents the largest data-gathering effort of firm-level corporate governance practices, ownership structures, and dividend policies. The results presented show that on top of country-wide legal protection of investors, there is a positive effect on valuation and performance of higher firm-level protections and better corporate governance practices. This evidence matches previous research in the area for other regions of the world.

Alberto Chong is a researcher at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). Florencio López de Silanes is a Professor at the Yale School of Management and is a researcher with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).