The purpose of this study was to determine whether corporate governance is an important and effective technique for enhancing investors' confidence in existing and prospective companies and for creating opportunities for safe investment in Yemen. A survey was conducted among certified public...

Foreign shareholders can avail themselves of legal protection under three different legal regimes: diplomatic protection, international investment law and international human rights law. Adopting a historic and comparative approach, this article tracks the faded role of diplomatic protection for...

Mainland China traditionally maintained the one-share-one-vote (OSOV) principle. Since 2019, however, Chinese authorities have introduced rules supporting the dual-class equity structure (DCES) for “innovative enterprises.” Due to concerns about investor-protection issues, China’s DCES...

This study investigates whether a policy that aims to protect minority shareholders in young unlisted companies benefits regional outsiders defined as those ventures located in regions that are usually less likely to receive equity finance. It focuses on the UK equity crowdfunding market in...

We investigate a 2012 pay-or-explain regulation implemented by China's Shanghai Stock Exchange. The regulation mandates that eligible firms must either pay 30% of their current-year profits as cash dividends or explain the reasons for their nonpayment through a public conference call. Using...

Corporate governance is an indispensable practice adopted by companies and firms with its primary beneficiaries or rather stakeholders being the shareholders. Corporate governance is crucial because it protects investors and supports investors in the market sector. Due to deception and fraud,...

Research Question/Issue: This paper addresses the effect of having multiple large shareholders on shareholder protection. More specifically, we examine to what extent this effect depends on whether such large shareholders are beneficiary or fiduciary.Research Findings/Insights: Analyzing...

We present insights into novel and complex issues regarding cryptocurrency activities, the related investor protection, and blockchain market risks. Crypto digital assets embody global economic ambition with their significant growth and creativity levels. This study employs a novel research...

Does ownership by private equity firms encourage or deter financial misconduct? We examine this issue by analyzing the records of individual financial advisers around buyouts of investment advisory firms by private equity. Our estimates suggest that private equity ownership leads to an increase...

This paper investigates whether gender diversity in the boardroom is associated with corporate cash holdings and whether investor protection moderates the effect of corporate board gender diversity on corporate cash holdings. Using 20,750 firm-year observations from 33 countries, our analyses...

In this paper, we consider a dynamic asset pricing model in a cross-sectional economy with two firms where a controlling shareholder cannot divert output in one firm with perfect investor protection for minority shareholders and where he can divert a fraction of output in the other firm with...

Short-term debt can reduce potential agency conflicts between managers and shareholders by exposing managers to more frequent monitoring by the credit market. Using an international dataset, we examine whether internal monitoring can substitute for external monitoring through the use of...

This article examines the decades-long decline of investor protections enshrined in the Securities Act of 1933, most notably Section 11, which imposes near strict liability on corporate insiders and certain secondary actors, primarily underwriters. The provision, the most potent in the federal...

This paper comparatively analyses the minority shareholder protection under the corporate governance regime of different jurisdictions, including the UK and the USA. The paper then analyses the currently available recourse to minority shareholders under the Companies Act, 2017, and the repealed...

In 2018, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) amended its rules to allow a company to directly list on the Big Board without engaging in an initial public offering (IPO). This process--called a direct listing--allowed a company to list its stock faster and cheaper, and at least theoretically, at a...

Examining a sample of 87,288 firm-year observations between 1969 and 2003, we find that firms slow the speed of adjustment toward their optimal cash holdings following the state’s adoption of labor protection laws. This effect is more pronounced for firms subjected to financial...

In December 2019, the modification of the Securities Law of China created a Chinese-style securities class action mechanism, namely the special securities representative action (SSRA) mechanism, which provided investors with a new route to private enforcement by enabling them to launch claims...

We investigate entrepreneurial finance in an environment that was characterized by severe information problems and very weak investor protection. Despite these problems, new ventures could raise large amounts of equity and debt on the Belgian capital market between 1890 and 1914. Many of these...

In the presence of strong minority shareholder protection mechanisms, shareholders may become placid and even inattentive with regards to their firms’ nonoperating activities in the hope that those mechanisms serve to assure agents’ incentive compatibility. Relying on a cross-country panel...

In this book chapter, I show that, while the U.S. systems relies on factors that are not determined by regulation, which I call market forces, to shape sophisticated investor protection standards, Israel prescribes such arrangements by the heavy hand of the regulator. I substantiate my argument...

We introduce imperfect creditor protection in a multi-country version of Schumpeterian growth theory with technology transfer. The theory predicts that the growth rate of any country with more than some critical level of financial development will converge to the growth rate of the world...

The paper conducts a concise yet comprehensive examination of the Chinese regulatory regime for takeovers of listed companies, covering important rules such as the mandatory bid rule, tender offer rules, disclosure of substantial shareholding, and takeover defences. In evaluating the Chinese...

We present a model of the effects of legal protection of minority shareholders and of cash flow ownership by a controlling shareholder on the valuation of firms. We then test this model using a sample of 371 large firms from 27 wealthy economies. Consistent with the model, we find evidence of...

Studies have shown a gap between investors’ intentions and preferences on the one hand, and their actual behaviour on the other hand. This gap has been attributed to a perception of high volatility and less profitability in ESG investments, combined with a lack of knowledge and availability of...

Overtime, some of the core provisions that traditionally identify, in the context of MiFID, the investors’ protection regime, have become a template for the protection of consumers and “end-users” of financial services and products in other areas of EU Legislation. Those same provisions...

This study investigates the nexus between investor protection and dividend policy for 517 listed non-financial firms operating in Asian countries between the 2008- 2017 period. The dynamic panel data model (System-GMM) reveals that stronger investor protection is associated with higher dividend...

We model how lobbying by interest groups affects the level of investor protection. In our model, insiders in existing public companies, institutional investors (financial intermediaries), and entrepreneurs who plan to take companies public in the future, compete for influence over the...

A system of investor protection rests on a theory of which investors need protection. This chapter surveys the composition and perception of individual investors in American capital markets from 1900 to the present. The retail investor base has expanded remarkably during that time. Beyond the...

We document that corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities increase the cost of equity in East Asia. Further, the effect is driven by economies with weak investor protection. Our findings are robust to alternative variable measurements, accounting for endogeneity of CSR, and various...

This paper argues that the key mechanisms protecting retail investors' financial stake in their portfolio investments are indirect. They do not rely on actions by the investors or by any private actor directly charged with looking after investors' interests. Rather, they are provided by the...

Online trading platforms and internet communities facilitate access to financial markets and let investors reduce transaction and coordination costs. In this way: (1) they permit many people to be directed towards a single goal, but, at the same time, (2) they allow operations aimed at...

This study investigates the effect of corporate governance reforms protecting minority shareholders on the firm value measured by Tobin’s Q. Using the difference-in-differences estimation and a large international sample from 65 countries for the period 2005-2018, the results show that the...