IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v66y2021ics0929119920302340.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Flights-to-control: Time variation in the value of a vote

Author

Listed:
  • Docherty, Paul
  • Easton, Steve
  • Pinder, Sean

Abstract

Dual-class shares often violate the ‘one share-one vote’ principle, thereby creating the potential for agency problems. We develop a model of time-variation in the pricing of these agency problems, as reflected by the voting premium. A key implication of this model is that insiders face a trade-off between the private benefits of control and the value of their cash-flow claims on the firm, resulting in a negative relationship between the voting premium and the expected present value of firm cash flows. As predicted by this model, we report empirical evidence consistent with ‘flights-to-control’, where the voting premium increases substantially during financial crises and when negative earnings surprises are announced. These relationships are accentuated for firms where agency problems might be expected to be more pronounced. The average voting premium is also shown to decrease around events that reduce the ability for insiders to extract private benefits of control.

Suggested Citation

  • Docherty, Paul & Easton, Steve & Pinder, Sean, 2021. "Flights-to-control: Time variation in the value of a vote," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:66:y:2021:i:c:s0929119920302340
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2020.101790
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119920302340
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2020.101790?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gustavo Manso, 2011. "Motivating Innovation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1823-1860, October.
    2. Simon Johnson, 2000. "Tunneling," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 22-27, May.
    3. Barclay, Michael J. & Holderness, Clifford G., 1989. "Private benefits from control of public corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 371-395, December.
    4. Michael L. Lemmon & Karl V. Lins, 2003. "Ownership Structure, Corporate Governance, and Firm Value: Evidence from the East Asian Financial Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1445-1468, August.
    5. Shmuel Hauser, 2004. "The Value of Voting Rights to Majority Shareholders: Evidence from Dual-Class Stock Unifications," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 1167-1184.
    6. Luigi Zingales, 1995. "What Determines the Value of Corporate Votes?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 1047-1073.
    7. Zingales, Luigi, 1994. "The Value of the Voting Right: A Study of the Milan Stock Exchange Experience," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 125-148.
    8. Paul A. Gompers & Joy Ishii & Andrew Metrick, 2010. "Extreme Governance: An Analysis of Dual-Class Firms in the United States," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 1051-1088, March.
    9. Ferrell, Allen & Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc, 2016. "Socially responsible firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 585-606.
    10. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    11. Cox, Steven R. & Roden, Dianne M., 2002. "The source of value of voting rights and related dividend promises," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 337-351, October.
    12. Markus K. Brunnermeier, 2009. "Deciphering the Liquidity and Credit Crunch 2007-2008," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 77-100, Winter.
    13. Avner Kalay & Oǧuzhan Karakaş & Shagun Pant, 2014. "The Market Value of Corporate Votes: Theory and Evidence from Option Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(3), pages 1235-1271, June.
    14. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Lasse Heje Pedersen, 2009. "Market Liquidity and Funding Liquidity," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(6), pages 2201-2238, June.
    15. Baranchuk, Nina & Kieschnick, Robert & Moussawi, Rabih, 2014. "Motivating innovation in newly public firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(3), pages 578-588.
    16. 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.
    17. Paul Gompers & Joy Ishii & Andrew Metrick, 2003. "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 107-156.
    18. Zhang, Ivy Xiying, 2007. "Economic consequences of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1-2), pages 74-115, September.
    19. Grossman, Sanford J. & Hart, Oliver D., 1988. "One share-one vote and the market for corporate control," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 175-202, January.
    20. Carvalhal da Silva, Andre & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2007. "Dual-class premium, corporate governance, and the mandatory bid rule: Evidence from the Brazilian stock market," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 1-24, March.
    21. Morck, Randall K. (ed.), 2000. "Concentrated Corporate Ownership," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226536781, September.
    22. Whitney K. Newey & Kenneth D. West, 1994. "Automatic Lag Selection in Covariance Matrix Estimation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(4), pages 631-653.
    23. Gardiol, Lucien & Gibson-Asner, Rajna & Tuchschmid, Nils S., 1997. "Are liquidity and corporate control priced by shareholders? Empirical evidence from Swiss dual class shares," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 299-323, December.
    24. Lease, Ronald C. & McConnell, John J. & Mikkelson, Wayne H., 1983. "The market value of control in publicly-traded corporations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-4), pages 439-471, April.
    25. Karl V. Lins & Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2017. "Social Capital, Trust, and Firm Performance: The Value of Corporate Social Responsibility during the Financial Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1785-1824, August.
    26. Mike Burkart & Denis Gromb & Fausto Panunzi, 1998. "Why Higher Takeover Premia Protect Minority Shareholders," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(1), pages 172-204, February.
    27. Jordan, Bradford D. & Liu, Mark H. & Wu, Qun, 2014. "Corporate payout policy in dual-class firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 1-19.
    28. Kalok Chan & Albert J. Menkveld & Zhishu Yang, 2008. "Information Asymmetry and Asset Prices: Evidence from the China Foreign Share Discount," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(1), pages 159-196, February.
    29. Robert Neumann, 2003. "Price Differentials between Dual‐class Stocks: Voting Premium or Liquidity Discount?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 9(3), pages 315-332, September.
    30. Renée Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2008. "One Share-One Vote: The Empirical Evidence," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 12(1), pages 51-91.
    31. Schultz, Paul & Shive, Sophie, 2010. "Mispricing of dual-class shares: Profit opportunities, arbitrage, and trading," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(3), pages 524-549, December.
    32. Jarrad Harford & Sattar A. Mansi & William F. Maxwell, 2012. "Corporate Governance and Firm Cash Holdings in the U.S," Springer Books, in: Sabri Boubaker & Bang Dang Nguyen & Duc Khuong Nguyen (ed.), Corporate Governance, edition 127, pages 107-138, Springer.
    33. Smith, Brian F. & Amoako-Adu, Ben, 1995. "Relative Prices of Dual Class Shares," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(2), pages 223-239, June.
    34. Lucian A. Bebchuk & Reinier Kraakman & George Triantis, 2000. "Stock Pyramids, Cross-Ownership, and Dual Class Equity: The Mechanisms and Agency Costs of Separating Control from Cash-Flow Rights," NBER Chapters, in: Concentrated Corporate Ownership, pages 295-318, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    35. Ronald W. Masulis & Cong Wang & Fei Xie, 2009. "Agency Problems at Dual‐Class Companies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1697-1727, August.
    36. Vidhi Chhaochharia & Yaniv Grinstein, 2007. "Corporate Governance and Firm Value: The Impact of the 2002 Governance Rules," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1789-1825, August.
    37. Heitor Almeida & Chang‐Soo Kim & Hwanki Brian Kim, 2015. "Internal Capital Markets in Business Groups: Evidence from the Asian Financial Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(6), pages 2539-2586, December.
    38. Lucian Bebchuk & Alma Cohen & Allen Ferrell, 2009. "What Matters in Corporate Governance?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 783-827, February.
    39. Pankaj K. Jain & Zabihollah Rezaee, 2006. "The Sarbanes†Oxley Act of 2002 and Capital†Market Behavior: Early Evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(3), pages 629-654, September.
    40. Haidan Li & Morton Pincus & Sonja Olhoft Rego, 2008. "Market Reaction to Events Surrounding the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Earnings Management," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(1), pages 111-134, February.
    41. Cumming, Douglas & Meoli, Michele & Vismara, Silvio, 2019. "Investors’ choices between cash and voting rights: Evidence from dual-class equity crowdfunding," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lin, James Juichia & Shi, Wei-Zhong & Tsai, Li-Fang & Yu, Min-Teh, 2022. "Corporate cash and the Firm's life-cycle: Evidence from dual-class firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 27-48.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bigelli, Marco & Croci, Ettore, 2013. "Dividend privileges and the value of voting rights: Evidence from Italy," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 94-107.
    2. Renée Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2008. "One Share-One Vote: The Empirical Evidence," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 12(1), pages 51-91.
    3. Berezinets, Irina & Ilina, Yulia & Muravyev, Alexander, 2011. "CEO and Board Characteristics as Determinants of Private Benefits of Control: Evidence from the Russian Stock Exchange," IZA Discussion Papers 6256, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Odegaard, Bernt Arne, 2007. "Price differences between equity classes. Corporate control, foreign ownership or liquidity?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 3621-3645, December.
    5. Mike Burkart & Samuel Lee, 2008. "One Share - One Vote: the Theory," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 12(1), pages 1-49.
    6. Berezinets Irina & Ilina Yulia & Muravyev Alexander, 2011. "Owners, Boards, Managers and the Private Benefits of Control: A Study of Dual Class Stock Firms in an Emerging Market," EERC Working Paper Series 11/12e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    7. Bernard Yeung & Randall Morck & Daniel Wolfenzon, 2004. "Corporate Governance, Economic Entrenchment and Growth," Working Papers 04-21, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    8. Muravyev, Alexander, 2009. "Investor Protection and the Value of Shares: Evidence from Statutory Rules Governing Variations of Shareholders' Class Rights in Russia," IZA Discussion Papers 4669, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Chourou, Lamia & Hossain, Ashrafee T. & Kryzanowski, Lawrence, 2019. "Dual-class firms, M&As and SOX," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 176-187.
    10. Julien Le Maux, 2003. "Les bénéfices privés:une rupture de l'égalité entre actionnaires," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 6(1), pages 63-92, March.
    11. At, Christian & Burkart, Mike & Lee, Samuel, 2011. "Security-voting structure and bidder screening," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 458-476, July.
    12. Zeineb Barka & Taher Hamza, 2020. "The effect of large controlling shareholders on equity prices in France: monitoring or entrenchment?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 24(3), pages 769-798, September.
    13. Aiyesha Dey & Valeri Nikolaev & Xue Wang, 2016. "Disproportional Control Rights and the Governance Role of Debt," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(9), pages 2581-2614, September.
    14. Cristina Mabel Scherrer & Marcelo Fernandes, 2016. "Disentangling the Effect of Private and Public Cash Flows on Firm Value," Working Papers 800, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    15. Villalonga, Belen & Amit, Raphael, 2006. "How do family ownership, control and management affect firm value?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 385-417, May.
    16. Chi, Jianxin Daniel & Scott Lee, D., 2010. "The conditional nature of the value of corporate governance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 350-361, February.
    17. Belkhir, Mohamed & Boubaker, Sabri & Derouiche, Imen, 2014. "Control–ownership wedge, board of directors, and the value of excess cash," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 110-122.
    18. Hegde, Shantaram P. & Mishra, Dev R., 2017. "Strategic risk-taking and value creation: Evidence from the market for corporate control," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 212-234.
    19. Dimitrov, Valentin & Jain, Prem C., 2006. "Recapitalization of one class of common stock into dual-class: Growth and long-run stock returns," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 342-366, January.
    20. Bajo, Emanuele & Barbi, Massimiliano & Bigelli, Marco & Croci, Ettore, 2020. "Bolstering family control: Evidence from loyalty shares," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dual-class; Voting rights; Control wedge; Governance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • K22 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Business and Securities Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:66:y:2021:i:c:s0929119920302340. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.