We test whether the gains from hiring an outside manager exceed the principal-agent costs of owner-manager separation at 266 small, closely held U.S. commercial banks. Our results suggest that hiring an outside manager can improve a bank's profit efficiency, but that these gains depend on...

Small closely held corporations cannot rely on market forces or outside monitors to discipline hired managers. For such firms, managerial shareholdings may be a disproportionately important tool for controlling principal-agent problems. We study a random sample of 266 small, closely held U.S....

Recent corporate scandals, together with the effects of globalization, have led to an increasing interest in corporate governance issues. Little attention has been paid, however, to international laws and recommendations dealing with corporate governance in banking from a global perspective....

This article provides an overview of research we have done on how different aspects of corporate governance influence bank performance. We use a random sample of state-chartered community banks in the Midwest and gather detailed information from bank examination reports on the ownership...

The agriculture and energy sectors suffered dramatic declines during the 1980s in the Tenth Federal Reserve District. Bank asset quality also declined during this time period, particularly for farm banks. Using information on loan classifications and charge-offs, this study traces classified...

Special issue on problem banks