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Why Do Countries Matter So Much for Corporate Governance?

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Author Info
Doidge, Craig (U of Toronto)
Karolyi, G. Andrew (Ohio State U)
Stulz, Rene M.
Abstract

This paper develops and tests a model of how country characteristics, such as legal protections for minority investors, and the level of economic and financial development, influence firms’ costs and benefits in implementing measures to improve their own governance and transparency. The model focuses on an entrepreneur who needs to raise funds to finance the firm's investment opportunities and who decides whether or not to invest in better firm-level governance mechanisms to reduce agency costs. We show that, for a given level of country investor protection, the incentives to adopt better governance mechanisms at the firm level increase with a country’s financial and economic development. When economic and financial development is poor, the incentives to improve firm-level governance are low because outside finance is expensive and the adoption of better governance mechanisms is expensive. Using firm-level data on international corporate governance and transparency ratings for a large sample of firms from around the world, we find evidence consistent with this prediction. Specifically, we show that (1) almost all of the variation in governance ratings across firms in less developed countries is attributable to country characteristics rather than firm characteristics typically used to explain governance choices, (2) firm characteristics explain more of the variation in governance ratings in more developed countries, and (3) access to global capital markets sharpens firm incentives for better governance, but decreases the importance of home-country legal protections of minority investors.

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Paper provided by Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics in its series Working Paper Series with number 2004-16.

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Date of creation: Aug 2004
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Handle: RePEc:ecl:ohidic:2004-16

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  2. Shleifer, Andrei & Wolfenzon, Daniel, 2002. "Investor protection and equity markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 3-27, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson, 2003. "Unbundling Institutions," NBER Working Papers 9934, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Bonaglia, Federico & Braga de Macedo, Jorge & Bussolo, Maurizio, 2001. "How Globalization Improves Governance," CEPR Discussion Papers 2992, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. " A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-83, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Henderson, Brian J. & Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Weisbach, Michael S., 2006. "World markets for raising new capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 63-101, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Stephen R. Foerster & G. Andrew Karolyi, 1999. "The Effects of Market Segmentation and Investor Recognition on Asset Prices: Evidence from Foreign Stocks Listing in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(3), pages 981-1013, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Durnev, Art & Kim, E. Han, 2004. "To Steal or Not to Steal: Firm Attributes, Legal Environment, and Valuation," CEI Working Paper Series 2004-7, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Rafael La porta & Florencio Lopez-De-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 2002. "Investor Protection and Corporate Valuation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(3), pages 1147-1170, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Doidge, Craig & Karolyi, G. Andrew & Stulz, Rene M., 2004. "Why are foreign firms listed in the U.S. worth more?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 205-238, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-86, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Reese, William Jr. & Weisbach, Michael S., 2002. "Protection of minority shareholder interests, cross-listings in the United States, and subsequent equity offerings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 65-104, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Johnson, Simon & Boone, Peter & Breach, Alasdair & Friedman, Eric, 2000. "Corporate governance in the Asian financial crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 141-186. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Klapper, Leora F. & Love, Inessa, 2002. "Corporate governance, investor protection, and performance in emerging markets," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2818, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  1. Panayotis Kapopoulos & Sophia Lazaretou, 2009. "Does corporate ownership structure matter for economic growth? A cross-country analysis," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(3), pages 155-172. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Zhilan Feng & Chinmoy Ghosh & C. Sirmans, 2007. "CEO Involvement in Director Selection: Implications for REIT Dividend Policy," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 385-410, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Bruno, Valentina G. & Claessens, Stijn, 2007. "Corporate governance and regulation : can there be too much of a good thing ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4140, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Ayyagari, Meghana & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2005. "How well do institutional theories explain firms'perceptions of property rights?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3709, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Heitor Almeida & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2005. "A Theory of Pyramidal Ownership and Family Business Groups," NBER Working Papers 11368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Mario, Cuevas, 2007. "A Practical Guide to the Assessment of the Vulnerability of the Non-Financial Private Sector," MPRA Paper 1375, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  7. John Nowland, 2008. "Are East Asian Companies Benefiting from Western Board Practices?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 79(1), pages 133-150, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Bernard Yeung & Lubomir Litov & Kose John, 2004. "Corporate Governance and Managerial Risk Taking: Theory and Evidence Author-Name: Bernard Yeung," Working Papers 04-35, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  9. Kee-Hong Bae & Rene M. Stulz & Hongping Tan, 2005. "Do Local Analysts Know More? A Cross-Country Study of the Performance of Local Analysts and Foreign Analysts," NBER Working Papers 11697, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Christian Hopp & Axel Dreher, 2007. "Do Differences in Institutional and Legal Environments Explain Cross-Country Variations in IPO Underpricing?," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Kaul, Aditya & Mehrotra, Vikas & Phillips, Blake, 2006. "Ownership, Foreign Listings, and Market Valuation," CEI Working Paper Series 2005-13, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. [Downloadable!]
  12. Ugur Lel & Darius P. Miller, 2006. "International cross-listing, firm performance and top management turnover: a test of the bonding hypothesis," International Finance Discussion Papers 877, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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  13. Laura Alfaro & Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Vadym Volosovych, 2005. "Why Doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries? An Empirical Investigation," NBER Working Papers 11901, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Meghana Ayyagari & Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirguc-Kunt, 2007. "Small and Medium Enterprises Across the Globe," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 415-434, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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