Prior research has shown that trust has a positive effect on the economic welfare of nations. We investigate this result by analyzing the effect of endowed trust on agency problems within organizations. We find that firms located in U.S. counties where trust is more prevalent suffer less from...

Prior research provides mixed results on the ability of American shareholder activists to improve managerial behavior. In Japan, the means of external control (e.g., takeover, litigation) are not as effective as they are in the U.S. Challenging management during annual meetings may be the only...

Although theory suggests that companies would rationally select into audit even if it were not a legal requirement, many countries impose mandatory audits. This is arguably due to an audit having elements of a public good, which may result in not enough audits being purchased without regulatory...