Discussion paper

DP3229 Governance with Poor Investor Protection: Evidence from Top Executive Turnover in Italy

This Paper studies the determinants of executive turnover and firm valuation as a function of ownership and control structure in Italy, a country that features low legal protection for investors, firms with controlling shareholders, and pyramidal groups. The results suggest that there is poor governance, as measured by a low sensitivity of turnover to performance and a low Q ratio, when (i) the controlling shareholders are also top executives, (ii) the control is fully in the hands of one shareholder and is not shared by a set of core shareholders, and (iii) the controlling shareholders own less than 50% of the firm?s cash-flow rights.

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Citation

Volpin, P (2002), ‘DP3229 Governance with Poor Investor Protection: Evidence from Top Executive Turnover in Italy‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 3229. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp3229