Impact of the legal and institutional framework on the financial architecture of new economy firms in developing countries

This paper analyses the impact of the legal and institutional framework on the financial architecture of new economy firms in developing countries. Apart from the more conventional institutional and legal barriers, which are advanced by the recent law and finance literature, the analysis in this paper focuses on the importance of the information and communications technologies (ICT) environment, as a potentially important barrier to the development of the business sector in general, and new economy firms in particular. This analysis confirms the importance of this ICT environment for (a) the asset structure (and the creation of intangible assets), (b) for the financial structure, and ultimately, (c) for firm growth.