Skip to main content

Corporate Governance

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

Abstract

Introduced in the mid-1980s, the term ‘corporate governance’ can be defined as the set of conditions that shapes the ex post bargaining over the quasi-rents generated by a firm. The incomplete contracts approach has been very successful in explaining the corporate governance of entrepreneurial firms and also some important features of large corporations, such as allocation of ownership to the providers of capital who are dispersed, and the importance of internal organization. Aspects that remain to be investigated include the role of the board of directors, interaction between different mechanisms of corporate governance, and the normative implications of the approach.

This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition, 2008. Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Bibliography

  • Aghion, P., and P. Bolton. 1992. An incomplete contract approach to financial contracting. Review of Economic Studies 59: 473–494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aghion, P., P. Bolton, and L. Felli. 1997. Some issues on contract incompleteness. Working Paper, London School of Economics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alchian, A., and H. Demsetz. 1972. Production, information costs and economic organization. American Economic Review 62: 777–795.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bebchuk, L., and L. Zingales. 1996. Corporate ownership structures: Private versus social optimality. Working Paper No. 5584. Cambridge, MA: NBER.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berle, A., and G. Means. 1932. The modern corporation and private property. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair, M.M. 1995. Ownership and control. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair, M.M., and L. Stout. 1997. A theory of corporation law as a response to contracting problems in team production. Working Paper, Brookings Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chandler, A. 1966. Strategy and structure. Garden City: Anchor Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fama, F., and M.C. Jensen. 1983a. Separation of ownership and control. Journal of Law and Economics 26: 301–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fama, E., and M.C. Jensen. 1983b. Agency problems and residual claims. Journal of Law and Economics 26: 327–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, S., and O. Hart. 1980. Takeover bids, the free rider problem and the theory of the corporation. Bell Journal of Economics 11: 42–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, S., and O. Hart. 1986. The costs and the benefits of ownership: A theory of vertical and lateral integration. Journal of Political Economy 94: 691–719.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansmann, H. 1996. The ownership of enterprise. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, O. 1989. An economist’s perspective on the theory of the firm. Columbia Law Review 89: 1757–1774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, O. 1995. Firms, contracts, and financial structure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, O., and J. Moore. 1990. Property rights and the nature of the firm. Journal of Political Economy 98: 1119–1158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hellwig, M. 1997. Unternchmensfinanzierung, Unterichmenskontrolle und Ressourcenallokation: Was leister das Finanzsystem. Arbeitspapier Nr. 97/02, University of Mannheim.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, M.C., and W. Meckling. 1976. Theory of the firm; managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics 3: 305–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, H., R. Crawford, and A. Alchian. 1978. Vertical integration, appropriable rents and the competitive contracting process. Journal of Law and Economics 21: 297–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • La Porta, R., F. Lopez de Silancs, A. Shleifer, and R. Vishny. 1996. Law and finance. Working Paper No. 5661. Cambridge, MA: NBER.

    Google Scholar 

  • La Porta, R., F. Lopez de Silancs, A. Shleifer, and R. Vishny. 1997. Legal determinants of external finance. Journal of Finance 52: 1131–1150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maskin, F., and J. Tirole. 1997. Unforeseen contingencies, property rights and incomplete contracts. Working Paper No. 1796, Institute of Economic Research, Harvard University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milgrom, P. 1988. Employment contracts, influence activities, and efficient organization design. Journal of Political Economy 96: 42–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milgrom, P., and J. Roberts. 1990. Bargaining costs, influence costs and the organization of economics activity. In Perspectives on positive political economy, ed. J. Alt and K. Shepsle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myerson, R. 1979. Incentive compatibility and the bargaining problem. Econometrica 47: 61–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novaes, W., and L. Zingales. 1995. Capital structure choice when managers are in control: Entrenchment versus efficiency. Working Paper No. 5384. Cambridge, MA: NBER.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rajan, R., and L. Zingales. 1996. The tyranny of the inefficient: An enquiry into the adverse consequences of power struggles. Working Paper No. 5396. Cambridge, MA: NBER.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rajan, R., and L. Zingales. 1998. Power in a theory of the firm. Quarterly Journal of Economics 113: 387–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rajan, R., and L. Zingales. 2001. The firm as a dedicated hierarchy. Quarterly Journal of Economics 116: 805–851.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rajan, R., H. Servaes, and L. Zingales. 2000. The cost of diversity: Diversification discount and inefficient investment. Journal of Finance 55: 35–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shleifer, A., and R. Vishny. 1989. Management entrenchment: The case of manager- specific investments. Journal of Financial Economics 25: 123–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shleifer, A., and R. Vishny. 1997. A survey of corporate governance. Journal of Finance 52: 737–783.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiggins, S.N., and G.D. Libecap. 1985. Oil field unitization: Contractual failure in the presence of imperfect information. American Economic Review 75: 368–385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O. 1985. The economic institutions of capitalism. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zingales, L. 1995a. Insider ownership and the decision to go public. Review of Economic Studies 62: 425–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zingales, L. 1995b. What determines the value of corporate votes? Quarterly Journal of Economics 110: 1047–1073.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2008 The Author(s)

About this entry

Cite this entry

Zingales, L. (2008). Corporate Governance. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2416-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2416-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95121-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics