The World Bank has published a series of reports on corporate governance as part of its project on the Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC). The corporate governance principles in its ROSC Reports are benchmarked against the OECD's Principles of Corporate Governance (OECD...

The timeliness of financial reporting has been an important topic in the accounting literature for decades. There is a tradeoff between the timeliness of reporting and the value of the information being reported. Prior to the advent of the internet, reporting had to be done using print media....

For capital markets to function, political institutions must support capitalism in general and the capitalism of financial markets in particular. Yet capital markets' shape, support, and extent are often contested in the polity. Powerful elements — from politicians to mass popular movements...

Strong financial markets are widely thought to propel economic development, with many in finance seeing legal tradition as fundamental to protecting investors sufficiently for finance to flourish. Kenneth Dam, in the Law-Growth Nexus, finds that the legal tradition view inaccurately portrays how...

Ninety-two percent of the 1,348 North American executives we survey believe that improving culture would increase firm value. A striking 84% believe they need to improve their culture. But how can that be achieved? Our paper provides some guidance. First, we directly link culture to financial...

We conduct in-depth interviews of senior executives representing over 20% of the market capitalization of the U.S. equity market to understand: (i) the importance, antecedents and consequences of corporate culture; (ii) the mechanisms that underlie the creation and effectiveness of corporate...

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (“JOBS”) Act of 2012 intends to “help entrepreneurs raise the capital they need to put Americans back to work and create an economy that's built to last.” The goal is to “democratize startups” by making capital available to diverse entrepreneurs in...

Crowdfunding, a new Internet-based securities market, was recently authorized by federal and state law in order to create a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive system of entrepreneurial finance. But will people really send their money to strangers on the Internet in exchange for unregistered...

Entrepreneurs raise money for start-ups by acquiring debt, selling stock, mixing the two, and crowdfunding. This chapter explains the pros and cons of those start-up financing options. Start-ups must repay debt on time, which is hard for them to do before they start making profits. Stock...

This paper examines insider trading in light of the recent Supreme Court case of United States v. O'Hagan. The authors conclude that the Supreme Court left many questions unanswered and even raised some new questions. Unless Congress defines insider trading and clarifies what constitutes illegal...