We find that active mutual funds owning product market competitors have superior risk-adjusted returns that are not driven by industry concentration, common selection, or stock picking ability. These funds charge higher fees but also generate persistent net-of-fee returns for investors. Funds...

This paper recovers and extends unpublished results from the oligopoly with the shareholder voting model of Azar (2012). In particular, we generalize the model to allow for managerial entrenchment. The general model nests the worldviews of both the proponents and skeptics of the common ownership...

There is an ongoing debate about how proxy advisory firms affect corporate decisions. A major concern is that shareholders seeking to save costs use a proxy advisor's vote recommendation as substitute for own research, thereby reducing efficiency of shareholder decision-making. We show that the...

Voting errors occur when bad proposals pass (false positives) and good proposals fail (false negatives). We develop a structural empirical framework to study voting errors for shareholder proposals. Our estimates inform policy debates on proxy access and proxy advisor regulation. Just over 5% of...

In Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the Supreme Court struck down a core provision of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) that enabled federal electoral oversight in select jurisdictions. We study whether this decision disproportionately impacted ballot access for Black and Hispanic registered voters. We...

Undertakings by the controlling shareholders in Chinese listed companies are commonplace. This study empirically examines the events where the controlling shareholders announced its intentions not to honour their undertakings. Using event study methods, our research shows that these events are...

We show that in countries with more societal trust shareholders cast fewer votes at shareholder meetings and are more supportive of management proposals. This result is confirmed by instrumental variable regressions. It also holds at the U.S.-county level and for voting by U.S. institutional...