Annual Lecture - Corporate governance and the current crisis

Professor Allen will give his views on the importance of corporate governance in times of crisis.  The Anglo-Saxon model of shareholder dominance works very well when things are going well because it allows resources to be reallocated efficiently.  In times of crisis, as currently, it leads to the instability we are currently seeing in the US, the UK and elsewhere.  Firms are laying off workers in large numbers, unemployment is soaring, and this is having large feedback effects.  In Japan in the 1990’s we did not see this.  Stakeholder governance has big advantages in this kind of situation.