Recent research on central bank governance has focused mainly on their monetary policy task. As the sub-prime loan market turmoil reminded us - central banks play a crucial role in financial markets not only in setting monetary policy, but also in ensuring their soundness and stability. In this...

State-owned and other state-invested enterprises (SIEs) have become more prominent in the global economy over the last decade. A growing role for state-invested enterprises in the marketplace is not in itself onerous. According to an OECD consensus, as expressed through the Organisation’s...

Over recent years, a number of regulators have launched proposals to expand the obligation to disclose major share ownership in listed companies. This paper shows that these are not stand-alone developments. Using a unique dataset comprising data from 25 countries over 11 years (1995-2005) and...

We examine the impact of corporate board reforms around the world on stock price crash risk. Using a sample of firms in 41 economies that passed major board reforms between 1990 and 2012, we find that board reforms are associated with a significant reduction in crash risk of about 13%. The...

In this study, we examine the effect of worldwide board reforms on the cost of debt financing. We find an overall increase in loan spreads in countries that initiate board reforms versus those without the reforms, which suggests that board reforms strengthen the power of shareholders at the cost...

Does the structure of corporate boards affect bondholder agency risk? Using mandatory board reforms, I show that firms that transition to independent boards experience economically significant reductions in payout, financing, and event risk covenants in their bond contracts. This effect is not...

In this paper, we examine the monitoring role of government customers in emerging markets, a setting where public procurement is significant but the procurement institutions are weak. In these countries, financial statements certification could be an important mechanism for a private firm to...

We use a hand-collected data set of firm-level foreign direct investment in China to examine the impact of home countries' institutional elements on the investment co-movement between foreign and domestic firms. We find that foreign firms from countries with well-developed financial markets or a...

This paper investigates the effect of major board independence reforms on corporate investment efficiency using a large sample of firms from 30 countries. We find evidence of a significant reduction in over-investment subsequent to initiation of board reforms. This reduction is most effective...

This paper analyzes the Wirecard AG case from a digital finance perspective. The relatively low pace of digital transformation of financial supervisors and the high speed of advancements in technology increase the technological gaps between supervisors and their responsibility areas and result...