We use director elections to analyze outsider shareholder perspectives of agency problems in family firms. Compared to nonfamily firms, outsider shareholders in family firms provide weaker support for director slates proposed by the firms' nominating committees. Outside shareholder support...

Family firms comprise more than one third of U.S. public firms. They differ significantly from widely-held firms in their promotion-based tournament environment and agency conflicts. These differences are likely to affect the design and efficacy of compensation incentives. However, most existing...

Using data on the qualifications and residential locations of directors, we study boards “in practice.” We find that directors' qualifications and distance from headquarters are related to factors such as the proximity of headquarters to a large city, firm size, CEO power, and the board's...