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  • Business Law and the Net Zero Economy
  • Corporate Governance
16 Jul 2021
12 min to read

Corporate Governance, the Depth of Altruism and the Polyphony of Voice

Jeffrey N. Gordon, Faculty of Law

This post responds to the paper Exit v. Voice by Eleonora Broccardo, Oliver Hart, and Luigi Zingales (BHZ). The paper discusses two possible mechanisms by which an ‘altruistic’ investor (ie, an...

OBLB categories

  • Business Law and the Net Zero Economy
06 Jul 2021
4 min to read

Can and Should Corporations Commit to a Voluntary Carbon Tax?

Jill Fisch

In their recent post ‘Corporate Carbon Reduction Pledges: Beyond Greenwashing’, John Armour, Luca Enriques & Thom Wetzer (AEW) open up a number of important issues worthy of further consideration...
Featured

OBLB categories

  • Business Law and the Net Zero Economy
02 Jul 2021
12 min to read

Corporate Carbon Reduction Pledges: Beyond Greenwashing

John Armour, Faculty of Law | Luca Enriques, Faculty of Law | Thom Wetzer, Faculty of Law

A small number of firms have an outsize impact on climate change. The majority of global carbon emissions since human-induced climate change was officially recognised can be traced to a relatively...

OBLB categories

  • Business Law and the Net Zero Economy
22 Jun 2021
5 min to read

UK directors’ duties in a changing climate and the net zero transition

Ellie Mulholland

In the UK, the two directors’ duties most relevant to climate change arise under the Companies Act 2006. First, according to section 172 of the Act directors are under the fiduciary duty to promote...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
19 May 2021
3 min to read

WallStreetBets, GameStop, and the Rise of ESG Retail Investors

Christina M. Sautter | Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci

The GameStop and meme-stock trading frenzy are evidence of a potential revolution in corporate governance and signal the rise of Generation Y (‘Millennials’) and Generation Z (‘GenZ’) as retail...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
18 May 2021
9 min to read

What Stakeholder Capitalism Can Learn from Jensen and Meckling

Alex Edmans

In 1976, economists Michael Jensen and William Meckling published what turned out to be the most cited academic business article of all time. Their paper, titled ‘Theory of the Firm: Managerial...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
  • Financial Regulation
11 May 2021
3 min to read

Beyond Loss-Absorption in Bank Resolution: the Essential Role of the Composition of Bail-Inable Investors

Edoardo Martino

Bank resolution is a cornerstone of the regulatory architecture that emerged in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Its core aim is to orderly resolve distressed banks allocating losses to...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
  • Financial Regulation
06 May 2021
4 min to read

The New Separation of Ownership and Control: Institutional Investors and ESG

Paul G. Mahoney | Julia D. Mahoney

In recent weeks, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has devoted considerable attention to Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, matters. It has requested public comment on climate...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
05 May 2021
3 min to read

EC Corporate Governance Initiative Series: Sustainable Corporate Governance: A Way Forward

Florian Möslein | Karsten Engsig Sørensen

The self-declared overall objective of the ‘Study on directors’ duties and sustainable corporate governance’ that Ernst and Young recently prepared for the European Commission DG Justice and...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
  • Financial Regulation
27 Apr 2021
2 min to read

Insider Trading and the Public Enforcement of Private Prohibitions: Some Complications in Enforcing Simple Rules for a Complex World

Robert T. Miller

In an article forthcoming in the European Journal of Law & Economics, I argue that, even if we accept the argument made by Manne, Epstein and others that firms wishing to allow their employees to...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
  • Corporate Tax
15 Apr 2021
4 min to read

The Political Dimension of Venture Capital Law in China

Chi Zhang

By employing a comprehensive study of the legal practices of the venture capital industry, my recent article ‘The Political Economy of China’s Business Organisation Laws and its Implications for...
Featured

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Finance
  • Corporate Governance
09 Apr 2021
4 min to read

EC Corporate Governance Initiative Series: Call for Reflection on Sustainable Corporate Governance

Alex Edmans | Luca Enriques, Faculty of Law | Steen Thomsen

Together with other ECGI Research Members, we have recently issued a Call for Reflection on Sustainable Corporate Governance to express our concerns over the risk that new legislation on EU companies...

OBLB categories

  • Competition/ Antitrust
  • Corporate Governance
07 Apr 2021
3 min to read

Prosocial Antitrust

Amelia Miazad

Recent developments have placed antitrust law on a collision course with corporate purpose. In a new paper, I reveal the unforeseen negative impacts of this conflict and provide a roadmap for...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
30 Mar 2021
3 min to read

The shareholder in France and the United States: A comparative analysis of corporate legal priorities

Forrest G Alogna | Hadrien Bourrellis | Bertrand Cardi | Matthew T Carpenter | Adam O Emmerich | Theodore N Mirvis

The fundamental question in the law of business organizations—what is the purpose of the corporation? —contains a related question of constituencies and therefore priorities among them—whom does the...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Finance
  • Corporate Governance
  • Financial Regulation
24 Mar 2021
4 min to read

The Emperor’s New Code? Time to Re-Evaluate the Nature of Stewardship Engagement Under the UK’s Stewardship Code

Bobby Reddy

Since 2010, the UK’s Stewardship Code has encouraged institutional investors to proactively engage with the boards of the companies in which they are invested (issuers) to pre-emptively identify and...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
22 Mar 2021
4 min to read

Beware Investor Responses to the Climate Crisis

J S Liptrap

It is in vogue to argue that, due to political inaction vis-à-vis the climate crisis, any progress that institutional investors can make to mitigate corporate climate change is advantageous. As the...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
22 Mar 2021
3 min to read

Corporate Purpose: Sustainability as a Game Changer

Guido Ferrarini

An increasing number of firms make reference to the pursuit of environmental and social goals in the definition of their purpose. This raises important issues with respect to the way in which the...

OBLB categories

  • Commercial Law
  • Corporate Governance
27 Jan 2021
4 min to read

Modernizing Corporate Law in Latin America: Lessons from Ecuador

Aurelio Gurrea Martínez | Esteban Ortiz Mena | Paúl Noboa Velasco

In the past decades, several countries in Latin America, including Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay, have implemented significant corporate law reforms. In the meantime, the regulatory...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
19 Jan 2021
4 min to read

Importing Activists: Determinants and Consequences of Increased Cross-border Shareholder Activism

Mark G. Maffett | Anya Nakhmurina | Douglas J. Skinner

In a recent working paper, we look at what drives shareholder activism around the world, with a focus specifically on the role of corporate governance reforms. While shareholder activism has been a...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Governance
07 Jan 2021
3 min to read

Lessons from India’s Struggles with Corporate Purpose

Afra Afsharipour

The escalating debate over corporate purpose is not confined to Western developed economies. Rapidly developing economies like India are similarly grappling with how to define and develop a legal...

OBLB categories

  • Corporate Finance
  • Corporate Governance
06 Jan 2021
4 min to read

Viewing Artificial Persons in the AI Age Through the Lens of History

Susan Watson

With talk of driverless companies and bots substituting for human beings on company boards either in part or completely, the spectre of a future controlled by entities devoid of human beings is upon...

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