We examine the effectiveness of the quot;comply or explainquot; approach to corporate governance in the UK. Using a unique database of 245 non-financial companies for the period 1998-2004, we perform a detailed analysis of both the degree of compliance with the provisions of the corporate...

For a large number of companies from different countries, the authors analyze how company corporate governance practices and country regulatory regimes interact in terms of company valuation. They confirm that corporate governance plays a crucial role in efficient company monitoring and...

We investigate how company-level corporate governance practices and country-level legal investor protection jointly affect company performance. We find that in any legal regime a few specific governance practices improve performance. Companies with good governance practices operating in...

Although foreign banks can act as catalysts for financial and economic development their role remains controversial because they might simply displace local lenders thereby tightening firms' overall access to credit. To settle this issue we study their effect on real economic activity in a large...

From 1977 through April 2019, USDA published monthly season-average price (SAP) forecasts for key agricultural commodities in the form of intervals meant to indicate forecasters' uncertainty, but without attaching a confidence level. In May 2019, USDA eliminated the intervals and began...

Commodity-equity return co-movements rose dramatically during the Great Recession. This development took place following what has been dubbed the “financialization” of commodity markets. We first document changes since 1995 in the relative importance of financial institutions' activity in...

Credit rating agencies and auditors are complementary certification agents subject to a conflict of interest inherent in their compensation structure. We examine client firm credit ratings to test alternative hypotheses of abnormal audit fees. We predict and find both cross-sectional and time...

From 1977 through April 2019, USDA published monthly season-average price (SAP) forecasts for key agricultural commodities in the form of intervals meant to indicate forecasters' uncertainty — but without attaching a confidence level. In May 2019, USDA eliminated the intervals and began...