This paper investigates the role of director networks in firms' decision-making. Using data on 25,621 unique directors who served on the boards of Samp;P 1,500 firms between the years 1996-2004, we map the entire network of directors and generate measures that account for each director's...

European family-controlled public companies tend to perform less well in the stock market than their American counterparts. Also, while more and more investment funds that focus on family-firm opportunities are being formed in the United States, data indicates that institutional investors remain...

Corporate governance has received an increasing amount of attention in recent years. Corporate scandals have brought corporate governance weaknesses to the attention of the general public, especially in the United States. Weaknesses in the corporate structure of some Asian countries have been...

Corporate governance has received an increasing amount of attention in recent years. Corporate scandals have brought corporate governance weaknesses to the attention of the general public, especially in the United States. But corporate governance is sometimes a problem in other countries as...

This paper reconsiders the design of debt-equity swaps that are common tools to financially restructure distressed firms. While an ad hoc approach consists in characterizing a set of three parameters, we demonstrate that a system of two equations defines admissible designs. Hence, assuming that...

This paper is one four corporate governance country reports, part of a 2003 Asia Development Bank Institute (ADBI) project entitled Review of Corporate Governance in Crisis-Hit Asia. The country papers, covering Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia, are based on the examination...

We explore the theory, law, and practice of the shift by public companies from a plurality voting standard for the election of directors to a majority voting standard, an emerging governance reform sweeping corporate America. Although not mandated by law, as of October 2006, more than 250 public...

Can institutional stock sales influence firm governance? Theory suggests that informed selling is likely to depress prices and disperse shareholding. Combined, both effects can influence firm governance by facilitating takeovers. I formalize this hypothesis and test its predictions using data on...

This paper analyzes the interaction between corporate taxes and corporate governance. We show that the design of the corporate tax system affects the amount of private benefits extracted by company insiders. A higher tax rate increases the amount of income insiders divert and thus worsens...