In this paper, we study how separation of control from ownership affects overinvestment by presenting a simple model extended from La Porta et al. (2002). We find that firms with controlling shareholders whose control is more separated from ownership are likely to overinvest more, even if controlling shareholders expropriate funds for purpose of other than investment. Using over 1000 public lis...

In this paper shareholders face the trade-off between providing managers with incentives to exert beneficial effort and to engage in costly fraudulent activity. We solve for the optimal compensation package, given that shareholders can either grant (restricted) stock or stock options and given fixed average compensation costs. We show that if the negative effect of fraud on the company’s value ...

In this paper, we study how separation of control from ownership affects overinvestment by presenting a simple model extended from La Porta et al. (2002). We show that firms with controlling shareholders whose control is more separated from ownership are likely to overinvest more, even if controlling shareholders expropriate funds for purpose of other than investment. Using over 1000 public lis...

This paper studies the role of conservative accounting standards in alleviating rational yet dysfunctional unobservable earnings manipulation. We show that when accounting numbers serve both the valuation role (in which potential investors use accounting reports to assess a firm’s expected future payoff) and the stewardship role (in which current shareholders rely on the same reports to monitor...

This research sought to determine why people chose to invest in Earth Sanctuaries Limited (ESL), which conserves ecosystems and breeds endangered species as its corporate mission, an unequivocally ethical objective. Investors were surveyed to assess the relative importance of financial versus ecological considerations. Demographic and investor behavior attributes o f ESL shareholders were compa...

ing earnings for shareholders. Return on equity measures net income less preferred dividends against total stockholder’s equity. The three primary drivers of ROE are better sales (or turnover), greater margins and higher debt levels, each of which can lead to a higher ROE. Although return on equity is a useful tool, it does not tell you what factors are helping or hurting the company’s performa...

Previous analyses of the relationship between board structure and firm performance have not considered how that relationship is affected by external ownership concentration. This paper illustrates how, as a result of this omission, estimates of the impact of staggered boards on firm performance have been biased downward. Including external ownership concentration also allows for the first time ...