We provide an in-depth comparison of US and UK shareholder proposal rules and relate the differences in rules to differences in proposing activities and performance, using comprehensive shareholder proposal data from both countries for 2000 through 2006. UK proposal rules are more onerous on...

In the past decade, as a result of many interrelated changes in the economic environment, the role and the pressures on the corporate governance of firms have been significantly transformed in the US and the UK. To test the magnitude of this changed environment, we study one aspect of corporate...

In May 2009, the SEC proposed the most significant amendments to proxy rules since 1942. We build comprehensive samples of US and UK shareholder proposals for the period 2000-2006 to study the relation between proxy rules and proxy practices and the effect of shareholder proposals on firm...

When Parmalat Finanziaria SpA filed for bankruptcy protection in late December 2003, it was regarded as the biggest financial collapse in European corporate history and was quickly dubbed 'Europe's Enron'. The collapse of Parmalat provides an ideal opportunity to examine the Italian corporate...

Corruption can take many forms. One of the most alarming aspects of corruption has been the impact of money laundering on financial markets. The amount of money laundered in the Asian region is estimated at approximately $200 billion, or one-fifth the global total. Some of the Asia-Pacific...

Whether executive compensation practices reflect optimal contracting or managerial power is one of the most fundamental and controversial topics in compensation and governance research. We shed light on this central issue by being the first to study the role of independent directors in adjusting...