The internet has created challenges for regulators of financial markets unimagined over eighty years ago by drafters of the Securities and Exchange Acts. The recent explosion in internet use has provided many benefits for investors and publicly-traded companies. The Internet has been a boon to...

We provide evidence on the long standing concern on auditor conflicts of interest from providing non-audit services (NAS) to audit clients by using rarely explored NAS fee data from 1978-80. Using this earlier setting, we find cross-sectional evidence of improved earnings quality when auditors...

Through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) bailout, the government took a controlling interest in a number of companies that remain publicly traded. There is significant prior debate over the consequences of government control of private-sector resources, but the present dynamic of...

From March 3 to March 5, 2010, the German Association for Law and Society and the University of Bremen hosted a Conference on "Transnationalism in Law, State and Society". Part of this conference was a panel on transnational financial markets regulation. The aim of this panel was to ask some...

Adam Smith warned that the officers of corporations were likely to be unfaithful agents that would harm shareholders. Modern anti-regulatory economists sought to remedy this flaw at capitalism’s core by supercharging executive compensation. However, modern compensation systems further...

Using a sample of 49 countries, we show that countries with poorer investor protections, measured by both the character of legal rules and the quality of law enforcement, have smaller and narrower capital markets. These findings apply to both equity and debt markets. In particular, French civil...

In 2008 and 2009, the federal government effectively hired and fired directors at American International Group and Bank of America. At AIG, the government exercised its power through the ownership of voting stock, which meant that the company’s public securities filings revealed the government...

International financial relations have largely been defined by cross-border trade, foreign direct investments, and global banking relations. This paper demonstrates that another activity, sovereign investments by special vehicles known as sovereign wealth funds, is rapidly redefining the...

In 1998, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) released a style manual titled “The Plain English Handbook.” The culmination of a drive by its Chairman, Arthur Levitt, the Handbook drew upon the rules of grammar, best industry practice, and even...

One of the main objectives of securities regulation around the world is to protect the integrity or fairness of the markets. This, together with protecting investors, improving the efficiency of markets and protecting the markets from systemic risk, now form the four fundamental goals of...