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Say Pays! Shareholder Voice and Firm Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Vicente Cunat

    (London School of Economics)

  • Mireia Gine

    (University of Pennsylvania, WRDS, and IESE Business School)

  • Maria Guadalupe

    (INSEAD, CEPR, IZA, and NBER)

Abstract

This paper estimates the effect of increasing shareholder “voice” in corporations through a new governance rule that provides shareholders with a regular vote on pay: Say on Pay. We apply a regression discontinuity design to Say on Pay shareholder proposals to deal with prior expectations and the endogeneity of internal governance rules. Adopting Say on Pay leads to large increases in market value (5.4 percent), firm profitability, and long-term performance. In contrast, we find small effects on the level and structure of pay. This suggests that Say on Pay operates as a regular confidence vote, increasing efficiency, and market value.

Suggested Citation

  • Vicente Cunat & Mireia Gine & Maria Guadalupe, 2013. "Say Pays! Shareholder Voice and Firm Performance," Upjohn Working Papers 13-192, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:13-192
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    1. Vicente Cuñat & Mireia Gine & Maria Guadalupe, 2012. "The Vote Is Cast: The Effect of Corporate Governance on Shareholder Value," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(5), pages 1943-1977, October.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Juan Pineiro-Chousa & Marcos Vizcaíno-González & Jérôme Caby, 2018. "Linking market capitalisation and voting pattern in corporate meetings," Post-Print halshs-02001463, HAL.
    2. Pierre Chaigneau & Nicolas Sahuguet, "undated". "The structure of CEO pay: pay-for-luck and stock-options," FMG Discussion Papers dp713, Financial Markets Group.
    3. Canil, Jean & Karpavičius, Sigitas, 2020. "Compensation consultants: Does reputation matter?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Vicente Cuñat & Mireia Giné & Maria Guadalupe, 2020. "Price and Probability: Decomposing the Takeover Effects of Anti‐Takeover Provisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(5), pages 2591-2629, October.
    5. Vizcaíno, Marcos & Chousa, Juan P., 2016. "Analyzing the influence of the funds' support on Tobin's q using SEM and fsQCA," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 2118-2124.
    6. Meera Behera & Vikram Nanda & Oded Palmon, 2022. "Disciplinary shocks: say-on-pay and the role of large shareholders," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1453-1499, November.
    7. Ricardo Correa & Ugur Lel, 2013. "Say on pay laws, executive compensation, CEO pay slice, and firm value around the world," International Finance Discussion Papers 1084, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    8. Caroline Flammer, 2015. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Lead to Superior Financial Performance? A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2549-2568, November.
    9. Ng, Jeffrey & Wu, Hong & Zhai, Weihuan & Zhao, Jing, 2021. "The effect of shareholder activism on earnings management: Evidence from shareholder proposals11We appreciate the helpful comments and suggestions from Stephen Taylor, Gary Biddle, Santosh Ramalingego," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    10. Michele Fioretti & Victor Saint-Jean & Simon C Smith, 2022. "The Voice: The Shareholders' Motives Behind Corporate Donations during COVID-19 (former title: Selfish Shareholders: Corporate Donations during COVID-19)," SciencePo Working papers hal-03386585, HAL.
    11. Schwartz-Ziv, Miriam & Wermers, Russ, 2022. "Do institutional investors monitor their large-scale vs. small-scale investments differently? Evidence from the say-on-pay vote," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    12. Marcos Vizcaíno-González & Juan Pineiro-Chousa & Jorge Sáinz-González, 2017. "Selecting explanatory factors of voting decisions by means of fsQCA and ANN," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 2049-2061, September.
    13. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Chih-Wei, 2022. "Liquidation threat: Behavior of CEO entrenchment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    14. Essam Joura & Qin Xiao & Subhan Ullah, 2023. "The moderating effects of CEO power and personal traits on say‐on‐pay effectiveness: Insights from the Anglo‐Saxon economies," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 4055-4078, October.
    15. Laura Henning, 2015. "Shareholder voting and merger returns," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 29(4), pages 337-363, November.
    16. Canil, Jean & Karpavičius, Sigitas & Yu, Chia-Feng, 2019. "Are shareholders gender neutral? Evidence from say on pay," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 169-186.
    17. Pierre Chaigneau & Nicolas Sahuguet, 2014. "Explaining the Association between Monitoring and Controversial CEO Pay Practices: an Optimal Contracting Perspective," Cahiers de recherche 1406, CIRPEE.
    18. Denes, Matthew R. & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & McWilliams, Victoria B., 2017. "Thirty years of shareholder activism: A survey of empirical research," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 405-424.
    19. Tore Ellingsen & Eirik Gaard Kristiansen, 2022. "Fair and Square: A Retention Model of Managerial Compensation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3604-3624, May.
    20. Yafeh, Yishay & Fried, Jesse & Kamar, Ehud, 2018. "The Effect of Minority Veto Rights on Controller Tunneling," CEPR Discussion Papers 12697, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    21. Martin Bugeja & Zoltan Matolcsy & Helen Spiropoulos, 2016. "The Association Between Gender-Diverse Compensation Committees and CEO Compensation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 375-390, December.
    22. Arjun Mitra & Corinne Post & Steve Sauerwald, 2021. "Evaluating Board Candidates: A Threat-Contingency Model of Shareholder Dissent Against Female Director Candidates," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(1), pages 86-110, January.
    23. Chaigneau, Pierre & Sahuguet, Nicolas, 2013. "The effect of monitoring on CEO pay practices in a matching equilibrium," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 55405, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    24. Fried, Jesse M. & Kamar, Ehud & Yafeh, Yishay, 2020. "The effect of minority veto rights on controller pay tunneling," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(3), pages 777-788.
    25. Nicola Cucari, 2019. "Determinants of say on pay vote: a configurational analysis," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 837-856, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agency Cost; Corporate Governance; Shareholder Meetings; Regression Discontinuity; Event Studies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

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