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...

We examine how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), jointly with influential institutional ownership (IO), affects firm value around the 2008 global financial crisis. We find that the effect of CSR on firm value varies with the level of influential institutional ownership and depends upon...

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

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...