We show that, while low-cost shareholder activism via shareholder-sponsored proposals is occasionally value-enhancing, many proposals are submitted by the same few individual investors and other sponsors without organizational capabilities to...Read more
This paper analyzes the effect of the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on Citizens United v. FEC on corporate political activism, which opened the door for corporate treasuries to engage in independent political spending. Politically...Read more
Do informed shareholders who can influence corporate decisions improve governance? We demonstrate this may not be generally true in a model of takeovers. The model suggests that a shareholder’s ability to collect information and trade ex post may...Read more
This paper challenges the view that foreign investors lead firms to adopt a short-term orientation and forgo long-term investment. Using a comprehensive sample of publicly listed firms in 30 countries over the 2001-2010 period, we find instead...Read more
We study the link between international stock return comovements and institutional investment. We test whether the rise of institutional ownership has increased cross-country correlations and decreased cross-industry correlations. Using stock-...Read more
Most listed firms have concentrated ownership structures. However this ownership type is problematic. A clinical analysis reveals that the corporate governance in these firms in terms of liability, voice and exit faces important design problems....Read more
Hedge fund activism has increased almost hyperbolically. Some view this optimistically as a means for bridging the separation of ownership and control; others are more pessimistic, seeing mainly wealth transfers from bondholders or speculative...Read more
We show that investors with more dollar amount allocated to private equity conduct more thorough due diligence and have different investment criteria. The fraction allocated to private equity, the organization?s total asset under management, and...Read more
This paper provides evidence on the incidence, characteristics, and performance of activist engagements across countries. We find that the incidence of activism is greatest with high institutional ownership, particularly for U.S. institutions. We...Read more
Why are shareholder empowerment and activism such controversial issues in the United States today? Other common law jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, have welcomed and encouraged greater shareholder participation and engagement in...Read more
Blockholder monitoring is key to corporate governance, but blockholders large enough to exercise signi cant unilateral in uence are rare. Mechanisms that enable small blockholders to exert collective in uence are therefore important. We present a...Read more
The dialogue of the board and its chairman with investors is an established practice in many countries, such as the United Kingdom, the USA, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and recently also Germany. In the UK this dialogue covers the whole...Read more