In August 2007 the United Kingdom experienced its first bank run in over 140 years. Although Northern Rock was not a particularly large bank (it was at the time ranked 7th in terms of assets) it was nevertheless a significant retail bank and a substantial mortgage lender. In fact, ten years...

In August 2007 the United Kingdom experienced its first bank run in over 140 years. Although Northern Rock was not a particularly large bank (it was at the time ranked 7th in terms of assets) it was nevertheless a significant retail bank and a substantial mortgage lender. In fact, ten years...

This paper puts together the pieces of the puzzle of the ongoing regulatory competition debate on corporate law in the US. At early stages of this process Delaware conquered the leader’s place replacing Jersey, and forever locked-in there through peculiar manners. The States take as granted...

The authors were motivated to write this article by South Korea’s steps to amend its corporate law to permit the use of the shareholder rights plan (poison pill). Poison pills are permitted in some of the world’s most sophisticated economies, and they have engendered strong opinions and...

This paper reexamines the adaptation of board structure in U.S. electric utilities following deregulation. Post-deregulation changes in board size and the number of outside directors are positively and statistically-significantly associated with changes in the complexity of a firm’s...

The US approach to regulating the securities markets is underpinned by disclosure, and US policymakers have tended to respond to corporate and systemic crises by strengthening disclosure requirements. For example, in response to the global financial crisis, the US Securities and Exchange...

Recent US reforms aimed at strengthening audit committees and their structure assign independent audit committees the responsibility to appoint, dismiss, and compensate auditors. We examine the association between audit committee characteristics and auditors' compensation and dismissals...

Notwithstanding the focus on hedge fund activism, fundamental questions remain. How much does hedge fund activism really matter? What has academic study contributed to the understanding of hedge fund activism? And what, if anything, does research on hedge fund activism illuminate about the...

This paper examines the SEC regulation requiring non-binding general shareholder vote on executive compensation–“say-on-pay” (SOP). We examine the first two years of SOP in the Russell 3000. The results confirm previous shareholder-proposal studies by finding that SOP approval (reject)...

We test whether geographical location, audit quality and equity offering play a role in the earnings quality of Reverse Merger (RM) firms. We provide evidence that, contrary to the popular focus by the business press, earnings management happens in both U.S. and international RM companies. We...