We examine the relation between board structure (size and composition) and firm performance using a sample of banking firms during 1959-1999. Contrary to the evidence for non-financial firms, we find that banking firms with larger boards do not underperform their peers in terms of Tobin's Q. We...

This paper analyzes the consequences of the board's dual role as an advisor as well as a monitor of management in the context of both a sole board system such as in the United States and the dual board system such as in various countries in Europe. As a result of this dual role the manager in a...

In the secondary art market, artists play no active role. This allows us to isolate cultural influences on the demand for female artists' work from supply-side factors. Using 1.5 million auction transactions in 45 countries, we document a 47.6% gender discount in auction prices for paintings....

Theoretical models of groups suggest that sub-group usage can affect communication among members and group decision-making. To examine the trade-offs from forming sub-groups, we assemble a detailed dataset on corporate boards (groups) and committees (sub-groups). Boards have increasingly used...

Moralistic trust arises when people believe others share their moral values. I examine whether trust in the finance industry has a moral foundation by comparing values and attitudes of finance professionals with those of the general population in two data sets: a unique data set on values of...

What makes a successful CEO? We combine a near-exhaustive sample of CEOs of Swedish companies with data on their cognitive and non-cognitive ability and height at age 18. CEOs differ from other high-skill professions most in non-cognitive ability. The median large-company CEO belongs to the top...

Directors are not one-dimensional. We characterize their skill sets by exploiting Regulation S-K's 2009 requirement that U.S. firms must disclose the experience, qualifications, attributes or skills that led the nominating committee to choose an individual as a director. We then examine how...

Can female directors help save economies and the firms on whose boards they sit? Policy makers seem to think so. Numerous countries have implemented boardroom gender policies because of business case arguments. While women may be the key to healthy economies, I argue that more research needs to...

We examine insider trades of bankers as a measure of how much they know relative to outsiders. In contrast to trades of insiders in non-financial firms, trades by bankers are less informative. Although bankers are relatively better at timing their sales, they earn negative long-run abnormal...