This dissertation consists of six self-contained chapters that are related to the behavior of firms and politicians in a broader sense. After an introduction to the topic, the first part of the dissertation elaborates on how institutional and political framework conditions influence the behavior...

In three self-contained essays, this dissertation deals with the impact of board structure on firm performance and with determinants of executive compensation, director compensation, and payout policy. Each of the three chapters is based on panel data sets of German firms. Distinguishing...

The level of regulation of disclosure and corporate governance on the national and supranational level has increased substantially in the last decade. With that in mind, and in the light of the demand for evidence-based financial reporting and disclosure regulation (Buijink, 2006; Gassen and...