Corporate Governance Research More Important than Ever, Says Professor Abbie Smith

With the heightened interest among the investment community, the wave of regulatory reform, and various responses from corporations to all of this, I think it’s more important than ever that good research be done in the area of corporate governance, and that that research by widely disseminated, said Abbie J. Smith in a Back to the Classroom session on November 6.

Smith called the GSB a hotbed of corporate governance research, noting that GSB faculty from economics, finance, accounting, and operations all have studied corporate governance.

Smith, Boris and Irene Stern Professor of Accounting and the session organizer, discussed her research on distortions in corporate reporting. Marianne Bertrand, professor of economics and Neubauer Family Faculty Fellow, presented her research on agency conflicts in the context of distorted corporate investment behavior. Randall S. Kroszner, professor of economics and a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors from 2001 to 2003, offered a Washington insider’s perspective on recent developments in corporate governance. And Luigi Zingales, Robert C. McCormack Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, talked about the influence of the media on corporate policy.

Research on corporate governance by these and other Chicago GSB faculty is highlighted in the October 2004 issue of Capital Ideas.

Other award-winning faculty research on corporate governance:

Are CEOs Rewarded for Luck? The Ones Without Principals Are, coauthored by Marianne Bertrand and winner of the 2000 Corporate Governance Library Award for Best Paper

Were the Good Old Days That Good? Changes in Managerial Stock Ownership Since the Great Depression, coauthored by Randall S. Kroszner and winner of the 1999 Brattle Prize for Best Corporate Governance Paper in the Journal of Finance

 

 Anthony Ruth