diff --git a/Lib/test/test_codecs.py b/Lib/test/test_codecs.py
index 0362d26..36cebd5 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_codecs.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_codecs.py
@@ -23,9 +23,16 @@
         f = reader(s)
         self.assertEquals(f.read(), u"spamspam")
 
+class EscapeDecodeTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_empty_escape_decode(self):
+        self.assertEquals(codecs.escape_decode(""), ("", 0))
+
 
 def test_main():
-    test_support.run_unittest(UTF16Test)
+    suite = unittest.TestSuite()
+    suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(UTF16Test))
+    suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(EscapeDecodeTest))
+    test_support.run_suite(suite)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/Objects/stringobject.c b/Objects/stringobject.c
index 31f188a..dd38ee3 100644
--- a/Objects/stringobject.c
+++ b/Objects/stringobject.c
@@ -533,8 +533,8 @@
 	char *p, *buf;
 	const char *end;
 	PyObject *v;
-	v = PyString_FromStringAndSize((char *)NULL, 
-				       recode_encoding ? 4*len:len);
+	int newlen = recode_encoding ? 4*len:len;
+	v = PyString_FromStringAndSize((char *)NULL, newlen);
 	if (v == NULL)
 		return NULL;
 	p = buf = PyString_AsString(v);
@@ -660,7 +660,8 @@
 			break;
 		}
 	}
-	_PyString_Resize(&v, (int)(p - buf));
+	if (p-buf < newlen)
+		_PyString_Resize(&v, (int)(p - buf));
 	return v;
   failed:
 	Py_DECREF(v);