When regulation forces a board to become more independent than endogenously determined, the CEO may counteract by strengthening connectedness with other key players governing the firm. We find the independent board regulation triggered an increase in the fraction of top-executives appointed...

We investigate how investor protection (IP) affects target selection when a firm decides to enter a foreign market through an acquisition. A law and finance model shows the acquirer prefers better-performing firms when the target country has weaker IP than its home country. This cherry picking...

This paper attempts to explain the tendency of foreign acquirers to choose better performing firms in emerging markets, which limits underperforming firms' access to foreign capital. Using a simple law and finance model, we offer an explanation based on emerging countries' weaker investor...

This paper investigates how personal connections influencing governance in executive suites are impacted by other governance mechanisms. We use the independent board requirement as an exogenous shock reducing CEO influence in the boardroom. CEOs of the treated firms recoup the loss of influence...

We find a highly significant hump shaped relation between Tobin's Q and CEO share ownership for firms under weak external governance (EG), but find no relation for firms under strong EG. These relations illustrate the substitution effect of EG and CEO ownership in mitigating agency problems at...

We study how short-selling pressure affects tax aggressiveness using the pilot program on short sales in Regulation SHO. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that higher short-selling pressure significantly reduces tax aggressiveness. To explain the reduction, we offer a simple...

We find a significant hump-shaped relation between firm valuation and CEO ownership when external governance (EG) is weak, but the relation is insignificant when EG is strong. These interactive effects are identified while controlling for firm-fixed effects. The results imply that CEO ownership...

This paper provides comprehensive, detailed documentation of major corporate governance reforms (CGRs) undertaken by 26 advanced and emerging economies. Have these reforms impacted corporate investment decisions by altering investor protection (IP)? To answer this question, we estimate the CGRs'...