This paper provides evidence that remote voting became the current technique for voting. Based on data for French companies, I found that gradually more and more shareholders, and not only institutional shareholders, vote in absentia. While a controlling shareholder continues to participate and...

This paper examines banks' disclosures and loss recognition in the financial crisis and identifies several core issues for the link between accounting and financial stability. Our analysis suggests that, going into the financial crisis, banks' disclosures about relevant risk exposures were...

The concept of ‘investor protection' has a long-standing legal pedigree in relation to the business corporation. Since the early 20th century, when Berle and Means famously highlighted shareholder vulnerability in the modern public corporation, investor protection has been an important ideal...

The contractual theory of the firm predicts that companies adopt charters that maximise firm value, regardless of the default rule. We test this proposition around an exogenous switch of the default from one share-one vote to tenure voting following a law reform in France. In initial public...

This paper provides a legal and policy analysis of transactions between a corporation and one of its “related parties.” It first highlights the reasons why related party transactions (“RPTs”) are so common around the world. Next, it better identifies the phenomenon as a specific form of...

This Article investigates the determinants of dividend policy in firms with concentrated ownership structure. A review of the empirical literature shows that dividend payout ratios are lower in firms with controlling shareholders. We explain this finding as a consequence of the legal rules...

An important question in banking is how strict supervision affects bank lending and in turn local business activity. Supervisors forcing banks to recognize losses could choke off lending and amplify local economic woes. But stricter supervision could also change how banks assess and manage...