CEO succession at many companies occurs in a black box. Shareholders are not privy to boardroom discussions prior to the announcement of a CEO departure, and press releases announcing the change contain boilerplate language that does not make it clear whether the CEO stepped down voluntary or...

Governance experts have vigorously debated the appropriateness of CEO compensation. And yet, very little effort has been made to understand the size, quality, and efficiency of the labor market for CEO talent, which is a key determinant of pay. In this Closer Look, we review data collected from...

We use a unique, hand-collected database of independent directors to provide evidence that firms appoint independent directors who are overly sympathetic to management, while still technically independent according to regulatory definitions. We explore a subset of independent directors for whom...

The most influential approach of corporate governance, the view of shareholders' supremacy does not take into consideration that the key task of modern corporations is to generate and transfer firm-specific knowledge. It proposes that, in order to overcome the widespread corporate scandals, the...

The most influential theory of corporate governance, principal agency theory, does not take into consideration that the key task of modern corporations is to generate and transfer firm-specific knowledge. It proposes that, in order to overcome the widespread corporate scandals, the interests of...

Prior research documents how companies often rely on their own limited networks when searching for new directors. In this study, we ask the following question: How does audit committee (AC) selection differ if a machine makes audit committee (AC) appointments? Using a large dataset of potential...