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Public pension fund ownership and firm performance

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  • Yawen Jiao
  • Pengfei Ye

Abstract

Equity ownership by public pension funds (PPFs) is widely used in the literature (see, e.g., Cremers and Nair 2005 ; Dittmar and Mahrt-Smith 2007 ) as a measure of the strength of shareholder monitoring/governance. This paper raises caution on such practices by illustrating an inverted-U shape relationship between PPF ownership and firms’ future performance, measured by stock returns and operating performance: during 1985–2005, future performance first increases, then declines in aggregate equity ownership by PPFs. Our results suggest that PPFs’ presence is consistent with shareholder value maximization when they have moderate influence on firm management, whereas excessive PPF ownership may facilitate PPF managers’ pursuits of political interests and destroy shareholder value. Therefore, it is important to impose an upper bound to PPF ownership when measuring the strength of shareholder monitoring/governance. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Yawen Jiao & Pengfei Ye, 2013. "Public pension fund ownership and firm performance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 571-590, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:40:y:2013:i:3:p:571-590
    DOI: 10.1007/s11156-012-0288-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Callahan, Carolyn & Soileau, Jared, 2017. "Does Enterprise risk management enhance operating performance?," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 122-139.
    3. Hongxian Zhang & Liang Guo & Maggie Hao, 2018. "Corruption, governance, and public pension funds," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 883-919, November.
    4. Zhiyan Cao & Fei Leng & Ehsan Feroz & Sergio Davalos, 2015. "Corporate governance and default risk of firms cited in the SEC’s Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 113-138, January.
    5. Houdou Basse Mama & Stefan Mueller & Ulrich Pape, 2017. "What’s in the news? The ambiguity of the information content of index reconstitutions in Germany," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 1087-1119, November.
    6. María Consuelo Pucheta-Martínez & Inmaculada Bel-Oms & Gustau Olcina-Sempere, 2018. "Female Institutional Directors on Boards and Firm Value," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 343-363, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public pension funds; Corporate governance; Political interests; Firm performance; G23; G32;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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