This study explores the relationship between board diversity and firm performance for a sample of companies listed in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom. We consider different dimensions of diversity, both demographic (gender, age and nationality diversity) and cognitive or...

CEO ability is an important determinant of firm performance but is usually not directly observable. I use simulated method of moments (SMM) in order to estimate a dynamic model of learning about CEO ability from the firm's stock market valuations, operating returns, and CEO turnover. This model...

This paper provides empirical evidence consistent with the facts that (1) social networks may strongly affect board composition and (2) social networks may be detrimental to corporate governance. Our empirical investigation relies on a unique dataset on executives and outside directors of...