Appraisal rights grant dissenting shareholders in an acquisition the right to petition the court to determine the value of their shares. These rights can protect shareholders from acquisitions below fundamental value or can be abused by opportunistic investors. We examine the use of appraisal...

We study a regulatory change that permitted shareholder proposals to instate proxy access. It generated over 300 proposals and led more than 250 firms to adopt proxy access from 2012 to 2016. The firms expected to benefit most from proxy access have the most positive market reaction to receiving...