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Corporate Governance Over the Business Cycle

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  • Thomas Philippon

Abstract

I provide empirical evidence that badly governed firms respond more to aggregate shocks than do well governed firms. I build a simple model where managers are prone to over-invest and where shareholders are more willing to tolerate such a behavior in good times. The model successfully explains the average profit differences as well as the cyclical behavior of sales, employment and investment for firms with different governance qualities. The quantitative results suggest that governance conflicts can explain 30% of aggregate volatility

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Philippon, 2004. "Corporate Governance Over the Business Cycle," 2004 Meeting Papers 114, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed004:114
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    Cited by:

    1. Stijn Claessens & M Ayhan Kose, 2018. "Frontiers of macrofinancial linkages," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 95.
    2. Mayer, Eric & Rüth, Sebastian & Scharler, Johann, 2016. "Total factor productivity and the propagation of shocks: Empirical evidence and implications for the business cycle," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 335-346.
    3. Simi Kedia & Thomas Philippon, 2009. "The Economics of Fraudulent Accounting," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(6), pages 2169-2199, June.
    4. Mukherjee, Rahul, 2015. "Institutions, Corporate Governance and Capital Flows," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 338-359.
    5. Rüth, Sebastian & Mayer, Eric & Scharler, Johann, 2014. "TFP and the Transmission of Shocks," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100549, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Rui Albuquerue & Neng Wang, 2008. "Agency Conflicts, Investment, and Asset Pricing," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(1), pages 1-40, February.
    7. Ana Hidalgo-Cabrillana, 2013. "Endogenous governance transparency and product market competition," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 113-136, March.
    8. Rui Albuquerque & Luis Brandão-Marques & Miguel A Ferreira & Pedro Matos, 2019. "International Corporate Governance Spillovers: Evidence from Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(2), pages 738-770.
    9. Oh, Frederick Dongchuhl & Shin, Sean Seunghun, 2020. "Does product market competition affect corporate governance? Evidence from corporate takeovers," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 68-87.
    10. Wu, Xi & Wang, Yudong, 2021. "How does corporate investment react to oil prices changes? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. Gorton, Gary B. & He, Ping & Huang, Lixin, 2014. "Agency-based asset pricing," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 311-349.
    12. Diamond, Douglas W. & Hu, Yunzhi & Rajan, Raghuram G., 2022. "Liquidity, pledgeability, and the nature of lending," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(3), pages 1275-1294.
    13. McKay, Alisdair & Reis, Ricardo, 2008. "The brevity and violence of contractions and expansions," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 738-751, May.
    14. Guernsey, Scott & Sepe, Simone M. & Serfling, Matthew, 2022. "Blood in the water: The value of antitakeover provisions during market shocks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(3), pages 1070-1096.
    15. Jean-Pierre Danthine & John Donaldson, 2015. "Executive Compensation: A General Equilibrium Perspective," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(2), pages 269-286, April.
    16. Yaxuan Qi & Lukas Roth & John Wald, 2017. "Creditor protection laws, debt financing, and corporate investment over the business cycle," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(4), pages 477-497, May.
    17. David Berger, 2012. "Countercyclical Restructuring and Jobless Recoveries," 2012 Meeting Papers 1179, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    18. Dah, Mustafa A., 2016. "Governance and firm value: The effect of a recession," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 464-476.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    business cycles; corporate governance;

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

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