This paper reviews the pattern of bank failures during the financial crisis and asks whether there was a link with corporate governance. It revisits the theory of bank governance and suggests a multi-constituency approach that emphasizes the role of weak creditors. The empirical evidence...

We investigate the concepts of ‘activist macroeconomic policy’ and ‘stabilization’ within an optimal taxation framework when insurance markets are incomplete.

Trust offices (administratiekantoren) that repackage securities have been a central institution in Dutch finance since the late eighteenth century. Their basic form and functioning have remained largely the same, but over time, the repackaging has come to serve a variety of very different...

This paper models optimal executive compensation in a setting where managers are in a position to influence the public perception of their company, and thus the short-term stock price. Stock prices take the possibility of manipulation into account but fail to fully back it out, the degree of...

The paper examines the impact of executive compensation on private securities litigation. We find that incentive pay in the form of options increases the probability of securities class action litigation, holding constant a wide range of firm characteristics. We further document that there is...