We discuss empirical challenges in multicountry studies of the effects of firm-level corporate governance on firm value, focusing on emerging markets. We assess the severe data, “construct validity,” and endogeneity issues in these studies, propose methods to respond to those issues, and...

This paper provides an account of the Emerging Markets Corporate Governance Research Network (EMCGN) and its first 10 years of activities. The network was established under the auspices of the Global Corporate Governance Forum (now incorporated into IFC’s Corporate Governance Group). The paper...

We examine the effects of mergers on the returns to acquiring companies' shareholders for a large sample of companies from both Anglo-Saxon and non-Anglo-Saxon countries over the 1980s and 1990s. With the important exception of Japan, we find similar patterns of returns across both types of...

Purpose - There is evidence that corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices predict higher firm value, but little evidence on which specific aspects of CSR drive this relationship. The purpose of this paper is to study this question in a sample drawn from 35 countries over 2003-2016....

How do board characteristics influence the risk of bankruptcy? We study this question by estimating classic Z-Score models using panel data comprising 2519 listed non-financial firms from 29 European countries over the 2012-2020 period. We found that board independence is associated with lower...

A central issue in evaluating the effects of firm-level corporate governance (FLCG) is how to measure it. We focus here on emerging markets (EMs). One common approach to measuring FLCG uses country-specific (CSIs), tailored to each country’s laws and institutions. Several studies report that...

We use a web-based asset market experiment to study whether ESG information affects the portfolio choices of retail investors. We find a significantly higher portfolio allocation to stocks with ESG information in the order of 11 percentage points compared to a control group where no ESG...

The Third International Conference on Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets is one in a series of academic events organized by the Emerging Markets Corporate Governance Network (EMCGN). The Global Corporate Governance Forum at IFC endorses and supports the Network, which was first convened by...

The paper presents results of an ongoing research project on corporate financing patterns in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) since 1999. It addresses three broad issues. Which are the specifics of corporate financing in CEE compared to countries in Western Europe? Which country institutional...

This paper reviews the relationships between corporate governance and economic development and well-being. It finds that better-governed corporate frameworks benefit firms through greater access to financing, lower cost of capital, better firm performance, and more favorable treatment of all...