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...

In recent years considerable attention has been devoted to differences across countries in the institutional environments in which corporations operate, and the consequences of these institutional differences for corporate performance. In this paper we test for the presence of differences in...

We examine the relationship between firm performance and corporate governance in microfinance institutions (MFI) using a self-constructed global dataset on MFIs collected from third-party rating agencies. Using random effects panel data estimations, we study the effects of board and CEO...

Examining a set of firms from 46 countries, we explore whether busy independent directors, CEOs and audit committees effectively monitor corporate financial reporting. We find that firms with a higher proportion of busy independent directors or busy CEOs more extensively manage their earnings....

We investigate whether the separation between ownership and control rights can be costly to controlling shareholders and firms in terms of capital-raising costs. Using estimates of the cost of equity capital implied by analyst earnings forecasts and growth rate for a sample of 1,207 firms from...

We examine whether similarities in legal, sociological, and cultural characteristics between countries (country-pair homophily) affect foreign director appointments. Our results from estimating a gravity model, which includes economic and geographic country characteristics, indicate that...

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...

We examine how similarity in institutional, legal, and social characteristics between a firm's and its directors’ home countries, that is, country-pair homophily, affects foreign director appointments. We estimate a gravity model that includes economic and geographic proximity and find that...

Extant literature on board gender diversity focuses on the main pillars of sustainability while ignoring the important subdimension – waste management. Using a sample of 8,365 firm-year observations for the period 2002–2017 from 37 countries, we provide novel empirical evidence that board...

To gain insights about the quality of board's firing decisions, we investigate abnormal stock returns and operating performance around CEO-turnover announcements in a new hand-collected sample of 208 "clean" turnover events between January 1998 and June 2009. Unlike the majority of previous...