The recent wave of corporate scandals provides continuing evidence that boards have failed to fulfill their role as the top-level corporate control mechanism. Destroyed companies, ruined reputations and in some cases jail sentences have created an environment in which substantial changes in the...

Presented at the Harvard Business School Centennial Conference on Private Equity, New York City, Feb. 13, 2007; the Swedish Institute for Financial Research Conference on The Economics of the Private Equity Market, Stockholm, Sweden, Aug. 30, 2007; American Enterprise Institute Conference on The...

The original cost regulatory system, as currently used in the regulation of utilities and natural gas pipelines, cannot emulate the response of a competitive firm to high and varying inflation. Although there can be many problems introduced by regulatory lag and by high administrative and...

The paper by Morck, Shleifer, and Vishny contributes significantly to our knowledge of the takeover process. The authors conclude that the motive for friendly acquisitions is more likely to be synergistic, whereas in hostile ones it is more likely to be disciplinary. Hostile targets were older,...

This paper analyzes investment rules for various organizational forms that are distinguished by the characteristics of their residual claims. Different restrictions on residual claims lead to different decision rules. The analysis indicates that the investment decisions of open corporations,...

In this report, the tax effects of leveraged buyouts (LBOs) based on the current tax law and data from LBOs during the period 1979 through 1985 are examined. The analysis challenges the argument that LBOs result in net losses of tax revenues to the U.S. Treasury. Five ways are shown in which...