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Agency Issues in a Family Controlled Corporate Governance Structure The Case of Italy

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This study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between dividend payout ratios, executive compensation and agency costs in Italy. Corporate governance in Italy is distinguished by the fact that a large number of Italian firms are family controlled, which may theoretically reduce asymmetry of information and associated agency costs. Using a panel of listed manufacturing firms we find evidence that family control plays a significant role in resolving agency issues, i.e. that increases in family control of the firm lead to a higher dividend payout. Nevertheless, as we also find that managerial compensations are negatively related to dividend payout ratios, even in this family controlled environment, dividends do play their role in mitigating agency problems.

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  • Nalinaksha Bhattacharyya & Julie Ann Elston & Laura Rondi, 2011. "Agency Issues in a Family Controlled Corporate Governance Structure The Case of Italy," CERIS Working Paper 201106, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY.
    • Handle: RePEc:csc:cerisp:201106
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    6. Elston, Julie Ann & Goldberg, Lawrence G., 2003. "Executive compensation and agency costs in Germany," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 1391-1410, July.
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    8. Robert Carpenter & Laura Rondi, 2006. "Going Public to Grow? Evidence from a Panel of Italian Firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 387-407, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ravichandran K. Subramaniam & Khakan Najaf & Murugasu Thangarajah, 2022. "Board Governance, Dividend Payout and Executive Compensation in Malaysian Firms," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 30(1), pages 17-35.
    2. Geiler, P.H.M. & Renneboog, L.D.R., 2014. "Executive Remuneration and the Payout Decision," Discussion Paper 2014-032, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate Governance; Managerial Compensation; Dividends; Family Firms; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy

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