Dual-listed firms simultaneously follow the relevant rules in their home country and in their cross-listed country. In contrast, other firms only listed in the cross-listed country are only subject to the local regulations. Previous literature has found evidence that cross-listing can improve...

When there is high information asymmetry between directors and managers, independent directors do not have enough information to perform their functions. Only when faced with a good internal information environment can such directors acquire enough information to provide advice and monitor...

We develop a model to illustrate that controlling shareholders choose the level of investor protection that maximizes their own interests. Controlling shareholders in companies with complicated control structures can easily extract private benefits and are thus reluctant to enhance investor...

This chapter reviews theoretical and empirical research on the relationship between legal systems and innovation and culture and innovation. We highlight legal and cultural forces that encourage innovation activities, including strong patent protection, entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws, and...

For the valuation of a company it is necessary to take the income tax of its owners into account. When looking at a squeeze-out with investors who have different wealth this implies that fair compensation payments will be different. This is in contradiction to the German Stock Companies Act. In...

Seit der Einführung des Deutschen Corporate Governance Kodex (Kodex) im Jahr 2002 sind deutsche börsennotierte Unternehmen zur Abgabe der Entsprechenserklärung gemäß § 161 AktG verpflichtet (Comply-or-Explain-Prinzip). Auf der Basis dieser Information soll durch den Druck des Kapitalmarkts...

We analyze the effect of committee formation on how corporate boards perform two main functions: setting CEO pay and overseeing the financial reporting process. The use of performance-based pay schemes induces the CEO to manipulate earnings, which leads to an increased need for board oversight....

We study regulation of the auditing profession in a model where audit quality is unobservable and enforcing regulation is costly. The optimal audit standard falls short of the first-best audit quality, and is increasing in the riskiness of firms and in the amount of funding they seek. The model...

This paper reviews the history of executive compensation disclosure and other government policies affecting CEO pay, and as well surveys the literature on the effects of these policies. Disclosure has increased nearly uniformly since 1933. A number of other regulations, including special taxes...

This paper presents a positive model which shows that institutional setups on capital and labor markets might be intertwined by politicoeconomic forces. Two politicoeconomic equilibria arise from our model, one with little protection of insiders on capital and labor markets, and another one with...