This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the role of blockholders (large shareholders) in corporate governance. We start with the underlying property rights of public corporations; we discuss how blockholders are critical in addressing free-rider problems and why, like...

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the role of blockholders (large shareholders) in corporate governance. We start with the underlying property rights of public corporations; we discuss how blockholders are critical in addressing free-rider problems and why, like...

Shareholder participation in domestic rights offerings averages only 64%, which is considerably lower than previously thought. This causes wealth transfers from nonparticipating to participating shareholders which average 7% of the value of the offering. Wealth transfers are larger in...