Category: RESEARCH
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NOT ALL INTERLOCKS ARE EQUAL: DIRECTOR GENDER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL OUTCOMES
We show that systematic differences in the credentials and roles of female versus male multi-board directors determine what governance priorities flow through interlock connections. Using an instrumental variable approach exploiting state-industry-year director supply variation, and event study estimates exploiting California’s 2018 board gender quota as an identifying shock, we document that the quota altered the…
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NATURAL, SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL CAPITALS
This paper analyses how financial development affects the loss of biodiversity. In our analysis, we built upon Guiso, Sapienza and Zingales (AER-2004), who find that social capital (instrumented by electoral participation and blood donation) improves the financial development, through enhancement of trust among the economic actors. We document a negative relationship between social capital and…
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FLORA, FAUNA, AND FAIRNESS: REFRAMING FINANCIAL RISK AS ECOLOGICAL RESPONSIBILITY
Revise and Resubmit: Journal of Business Ethics This commentary examines the ethical implications of biodiversity measurement in corporate finance. We argue that the lack of epistemic clarity – the inability to see the specific, spatial consequences of corporate action – is the primary obstacle to ethical biodiversity stewardship. Drawing on the concept of moral decoupling,…
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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE NETWORKS AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
This study reveals that the connectedness between US firms can be both “good” (ownership) and “bad” (boardroom). Network links through ownership increase return on assets by 0.12%, while board networks decrease it by 0.07%. BIG3 institutional investors’ connections yield higher return on assets, particularly among same-industry firms, consistent with a passive peer benchmarking mechanism. Conversely,…
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TOXIC CHEMICALS GOVERNANCE
American companies are among the largest producers of chemical products. In this paper, we find that US firms in the chemical industry experience: i) significant costs in adding common directors to their boardrooms, ii) obtain a benefit relying on their joint partners, iii) prefer to form ties with similar firms, and iv) do not prefer…
Annalisa Tonetto 