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The Rise Of Independent Directors In The United States, 1950-2005: Of Shareholder Value And Stock Market Prices, Jeffrey N. Gordon
The Rise Of Independent Directors In The United States, 1950-2005: Of Shareholder Value And Stock Market Prices, Jeffrey N. Gordon
Faculty Scholarship
Between 1950 and 2005, the composition of large public company boards dramatically shifted towards independent directors, from approximately 20% independents to 75% independents. The standards for independence also became increasingly rigorous over the period. The available empirical evidence provides no convincing explanation for this change. This Article explains the trend in terms of two interrelated developments in U.S. political economy: first, the shift to shareholder value as the primary corporate objective; second, the greater informativeness of stock market prices. The overriding effect is to commit the firm to a shareholder wealth maximizing strategy as best measured by stock price performance. …
Corporate Law And Governance, Marco Becht, Patrick Bolton, Ailsa Röell
Corporate Law And Governance, Marco Becht, Patrick Bolton, Ailsa Röell
Center for Contract and Economic Organization
This chapter surveys the theoretical and empirical research on the main mechanisms of corporate law and governance, discusses the main legal and regulatory institutions in different countries, and examines the comparative governance literature. Corporate governance is concerned with the reconciliation of conflicts of interest between various corporate claimholders and the resolution of collective action problems among dispersed investors. A fundamental dilemma of corporate governance emerges from this overview: large shareholder intervention needs to be regulated to guarantee better small investor protection; but this may increase managerial discretion and scope for abuse. Alternative methods of limiting abuse have yet to be …
Does "Say On Pay" Work? Lessons On Making Ceo Compensation Accountable, Stephen Davis
Does "Say On Pay" Work? Lessons On Making Ceo Compensation Accountable, Stephen Davis
Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership
Based on a review of UK experience, advisory shareowner votes on executive compensation policies (“say on pay”) appear practical for adaptation in North America and other markets. They represent a lever that could strengthen both boards and shareholders in the quest to better align top corporate pay with performance. But they are hardly a panacea on their own. They are likely to spur dialogue between boards and shareholders. However, market parties in the UK—which pioneered the advisory vote concept — remain concerned that boards and investors are each falling short of success in tethering pay to performance. US players may …
Law And Capitalism: What Corporate Crises Reveal About Legal Systems And Economic Development Around The World, Curtis J. Milhaupt, Katharina Pistor
Law And Capitalism: What Corporate Crises Reveal About Legal Systems And Economic Development Around The World, Curtis J. Milhaupt, Katharina Pistor
Faculty Scholarship
This book explores the relationship between legal systems and economic development by examining, through a methodology we call the institutional autopsy, a series of high profile corporate governance crises around the world over the past six years. We begin by exposing hidden assumptions in the prevailing view on the relationship between law and markets, and provide a new analytical framework for understanding this question. Our framework moves away from the canonical distinction between common law and civil law regimes. It emphasizes the constant, iterative, rolling relationship between law and markets, and suggests that how a given country's legal system rolls …