Discussion paper

DP14759 Family Ownership During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Prompted by the shakeup of Covid-19 on financial markets, scholars have begun to explore the corporate traits that can make firms more resilient to a pandemic. In this paper, we test how the involvement of families in ownership and governance positions influences the financial performance of Italian listed firms during the spread of Covid-19. Our results indicate that firms with controlling family shareholders fared significantly better than other firms in the pandemic period. This effect is particularly pronounced among firms in which a family is both the controlling shareholder and holds the CEO position. Collectively, our results expand existing knowledge on the determinants of organizational resilience in the wake of adverse events.

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Citation

Amore, M, F Quarato and V Pelucco (2020), ‘DP14759 Family Ownership During the Covid-19 Pandemic‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 14759. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp14759