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The Corporate Governance Role of the Media: Evidence from Russia

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander Dyck

    (University of Toronto)

  • Natalya Volchkova

    (New Economic School/CEFIR)

  • Luigi Zingales

    (Harvard University, NBER, and CEPR)

Abstract

We study the effect of media coverage on corporate governance outcomes by focusing on Russia in the period 1999-2002. Russia provides a setting with multiple examples of corporate governance abuses, where traditional corporate governance mechanisms are ineffective, and where we can identify an exogenous source of news coverage arising from the presence of an investment fund, the Hermitage fund, that tried to shame companies by exposing their abuses in the international media. We find that the probability that a corporate governance abuse is reversed is affected by the coverage of the news in the Anglo-American press. The result is not due to the endogeneity of news reporting since this result holds even when we instrument media coverage with the presence of the Hermitage fund among its shareholders and the “natural” newsworthiness of the company involved. We confirm this evidence with a case study.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Dyck & Natalya Volchkova & Luigi Zingales, 2004. "The Corporate Governance Role of the Media: Evidence from Russia," Working Papers w0054, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR), revised Sep 2005.
    • Handle: RePEc:cfr:cefirw:w0054
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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