Advances in Financial Economics

This volume contains eight empirical papers that examine corporate governance from a number of different perspectives. Howe and O'Brien investigate how governance can influence short- and long term performance in the case of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies: Javakhadze et al. analyze limits to convergence in international corporate governance practices; Barak and Lauterbach focus on the private benefits of control; and Dong examines the relation between the discipline of options and corporate debt and the design of executive compensation. Jiang et al. measure the effect of R&D expenditures on bondholders; Gondhalekar et al. examine the capital market response to financial restatements; Al-Khouri reports robust evidence that privately owned banks are more risky than government-owned banks; and Luo and Jackson conclude that the positive relationship between tunneling and executive compensation implies personal benefits for controlling shareholders at the expense of minority shareholders.