We investigate the relation between firms' weighted average cost of capital and internal financial resources, using mandatory pension contributions as a proxy for internal financial resources. Rauh (2006) documents a negative association between mandatory pension contributions and capital...

In this paper we investigate the governance structure of Italian pensions funds. First, we conduct a brief but critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature, in order to identify the areas where major improvements are necessary: a) the skills and competence of the trustees; b) the...

The global trend towards tighten regulation of financial institutions and the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) may hasten the unwinding of cross-shareholdings in Japan, and there are signs that this is already happening. Finding buyers for such shares is therefore a...

According to theory, institutional investors face both risk management and risk shifting incentives. This paper assesses the relevance of these conflicting incentives for Dutch pension funds and insurance firms over the period 1995-2009. Using a unique and extended dataset, we observe a...

This paper develops a general continuous-time framework for defining optimal corporate pension policy. Interactions between the firm's optimal investment and financing policies and the defined benefit pension plan optimal portfolio strategy are studied. We prove that the three decision rules are...

According to theory, institutional investors face both risk management and risk shifting incentives. This paper assesses the relevance of these conflicting incentives for Dutch pension funds and insurance firms over the period 1995-2009. Using a unique and extended dataset, we observe a...

This is the first paper that directly tests the cost of transparency. More precisely, we examine whether a willingness to offer transparency to investors is beneficial or costly in terms of hedge fund returns. We measure a fund's willingness to offer transparency by whether it accepts managed...

This paper provides benchmarks for monitoring costs and evaluates the net returns to shareholder activism. I model activism as a sequential decision process consisting of demand negotiations, board representation, and proxy contest and estimate the costs of each activism stage. A campaign ending...

The traditional view on CEO pay suggests that the use of equity-based incentives (e.g., stocks and options) should increase when stock prices become more informative about managerial action. In this paper, we show this is only true in the relative sense, when comparing with CEOs'...

Traditional variable annuities build retirement income for annuitants through investments in stocks and bonds. These annuities are variable because their performance depends upon the performance of uncertain financial markets. The risk of poor performance lies solely upon annuitants, rather than...