We show how the change to differential voting rights allows dominant shareholders to retain control even after selling substantial economic ownership in the firm and diversifying their wealth. This unbundling of cash flow and control rights leads to more dispersed economic ownership and a closer...

French-listed companies exhibit a concentrated ownership structure, with the largest shareholder holding more voting rights than cash flow rights. This wedge predominantly stems from a typical system of double voting shares. This paper studies the acquisitions made by French-listed firms over...

We study the impact of board gender quotas on firms' hiring and retention practices. We find that female director tenure significantly increases following the introduction of a quota in France in 2011, with stronger effects among less gender-diverse firms and firms that use networks for hiring....

We examine the relation between cash holdings, corporate governance and financial constraints. We find that firms with weak shareholder rights hold less cash, in contrast to the predictions of agency theory. This result is partly due to the positive correlation that exists between shareholder...

We examine how ownership concentration and the separation of ownership and control affect secondary-market liquidity in France. We find that firms with a large insider blockholder exhibit significantly lower liquidity. However, different methods of enhancing control affect liquidity in different...