While scholars have hypothesized about the sources of variation in property rights for over 2500 years, it is only very recently that researchers have begun to test these theories empirically. This paper reviews both the theory and empirical evidence supporting and refuting the law and endowment...

Purpose – The purpose of this postmortem is to assess whether the design, implementation, and maintenance of financial policies during the period from 1996 through 2006 were primary causes of the financial system's demise. Design/methodology/approach – To draw conclusions about the policy...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss and provide new data and measures of bank regulatory and supervisory policies in 180 countries from 1999 to 2011. Design/methodology/approach – The authors' approach is based upon the quantification of hundreds of questions, including...

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- An Accident? -- This Book -- Financial Regulation Matters -- Some Final Introductory Remarks -- Road Map -- Chapter 2. Regulating Finance Is Hard to Do -- Introduction -- Shareholders versus Debt Holders: The Essence...

Although corporate finance theory suggests how adverse shocks influence shareholder preferences toward corporate risk-taking and executive compensation, few researchers explore this relationship empirically. We construct a firm-year measure of unexpected shocks to environmental regulatory...

The bulk of corporate governance theory examines the agency problems that arise from two extreme ownership structures: 100 percent small shareholders or one large, controlling owner combined with small shareholders. In this paper, we question the empirical validity of this dichotomy. In fact,...