In the German two-tiered system of corporate governance, it is not uncommon for chief executive officers (CEOs) to become the chairman of the supervisory board of the same firm upon retirement. This practice has been the subject of controversial debate because of potential conflicts of interest....

The German Corporate Governance Code works according to the comply-or-explain principle. One of its recommendations was to publish the remuneration of the members of the executive board on an individual basis. We examine the characteristics of the firms that complied with the code requirement....

This article analyses how policy changes affect shareholder wealth by exploiting the unexpected German reaction to the Japanese nuclear disaster. Event study results show that energy companies' shareholder wealth was affected by the policy reaction and not by the disaster.