Proxy advisory firms wield large influence with voting shareholders. However, conflicts of interest may arise when an advisor sells services to both investors and issuers. Using a unique dataset on voting recommendations, I find that for most types of proposals, competition from a new entrant...

Proxy advisors, private firms that help institutional investors decide how to vote their shares, play an extremely powerful role in shaping corporate governance. However, investors and policymakers are concerned about undesirable features of the industry, especially potential conflicts of...

We present the first comprehensive study of mutual fund voting in proxy contests. Among contests where voting takes place, passive funds are ten percentage points less likely than active funds to vote for dissidents. The gap shrinks significantly when accounting for votes withheld from...