Working Paper
Blockholders: A Survey of Theory and Evidence
This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the role of blockholders (large shareholders) in corporate governance. We start with...
Read moreCompetition for Flow and Short-Termism in Activism
We develop a dual-layered agency model to study blockholder monitoring by activist funds that compete for investor flow. Competition for flow affects...
Read moreUnexpected Corporate Outcomes from Hedge Fund Activism in Japan
Hedge fund activism has been identified in the USA as a driver of enduring corporate governance change and market perception. We investigate this claim...
Read morePandemic-Resistant Corporate Law: How to Help Companies Cope with Existential Threats and Extreme Uncertainty During the Covid-19 Crisis
This essay argues that, to address the Covid-19 crisis, in addition to creating a special temporary insolvency regime, relaxing provisions for...
Read moreInstitutional Investor Activism in a Context of Concentrated Ownership and High Private Benefits of Control: the Case of Italy
This is a draft chapter for a forthcoming volume, The Research Handbook on Shareholder Power, edited by Randall Thomas and Jennifer Hill...
Read moreThe Returns to Hedge Fund Activism
Hedge fund activism is a new form of arbitrage. Using a large hand-collected data set from 2001 to 2006 we find that activist hedge funds in the U.S. propose...
Read moreShareholder Engagement on Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance
We study behind-the-scenes investor activism promoting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) improvements by means of a proprietary dataset...
Read moreThe Effect of Institutional Investors' Voice on the Terms and Outcome of Freeze-out Tender Offers
We study the impact of institutional investors' “voice” on 201 going private tender offers by controlling shareholders ("freeze-out" offers) in...
Read moreDancing with Activists
An important milestone often reached in the life of an activist engagement is entering into a “settlement” agreement between the activist and the...
Read moreShareholder Value(s): Index Fund ESG Activism and the New Millennial Corporate Governance
Major index fund operators have been criticized as ineffective stewards of the firms in which they are now the largest shareholders. While scholars...
Read moreThe Global ESG Stewardship Ecosystem
There is growing interest in the phenomenon of international or transnational corporate law. This development is marked by its complexity. It involves...
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