Posted 12/16/07
CALL FOR PAPERS
THE SHIFTING CAPITAL MARKETS & CORPORATE PERFORMANCE
CONFERENCE AND RESEARCH AGENDA
The Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and
Performance at the Yale School of Management is requesting
proposals for research exploring the relationship between
the evolution of capital markets and corporate governance.
Submissions are encouraged from all academic disciplines
including but not limited to accounting, economics,
finance, law, organizational behavior, and political
science. Selected authors will participate in a conference
scheduled for November 2008.
PROJECT OVERVIEW:
Economies rely on the corporation as the engine for
economic growth - to create jobs, earn profits, and divide
the value added among those contributing to its prosperity.
Capital markets make this possible by providing the
corporation with:
1. sources of financing in the form of equity, debt or
other instruments;
2. a range of financial services;
3. engaged potential business partners.
Today's capital markets have evolved from the dispersed
ownership model underlying regulatory and corporate
governance theory and practice for the last 75 years
(particularly in the United States).
Intermediaries such as pension funds, mutual funds,
insurance companies, banks and sovereign wealth funds are
dominant players in the global capital markets, often
taking seats in the boardroom and acting on behalf of
shareholders. These institutions themselves entrust huge
amounts of money to other intermediaries, such as private
equity funds, hedge funds, activist funds, and now
publicly-held equity funds. These developments have been
both hailed and vilified for their effects on corporate
governance.
"The Shifting Capital Market & Corporate Performance"
project aims to unravel the connection between ownership,
governance and the corporation's ability to meet the
expectations of shareholders, employees, suppliers,
creditors, customers, communities, and society at large.
Empirical study is a prudent undertaking before regulatory
or private initiatives are implemented in defense of the
vibrancy and innovativeness of capital markets.
This project complements current OECD efforts focused on
the relationship between capital markets and general
economic development. This study will provide the OECD
with insights into the evolution of capital markets and
corporate governance and suggest how to ensure that capital
markets continue to fuel corporate performance.
TOPICS OF RESEARCH:
The Millstein Center is encouraging new research that fits
into three broad themes. The questions listed below
suggest topics we hope to see addressed. Of course,
research proposals are likely to be more focused. We
welcome investigations of related questions as well:
The Current State and Evolution of Capital Markets
- How do ownership patterns vary over time and from market
to market? How can we account for this variation?
- Do present ownership structures and corporate governance
practices clash with the concepts of dispersed ownership
and managerial capitalism? Any ramifications?
- Are private equity funds displacing the public capital
market? Is the emergence of such funds stimulated by the
shortcomings of public capital markets, the burden of
regulatory compliance, or some other force?
Behavioral Drivers of Capital Market Participants
- What are the incentives that drive capital into the new
investment and ownership structures? Has private
ownership become more attractive to boards, managers, and
shareholders?
- How are new constituencies in the markets influencing
corporate managers' decision making, as compared to
directors, politicians, regulators, stock exchanges,
media, and analysts?
- Do director's fiduciary responsibilities conflict with
financial considerations in the context of decisions
regarding change in ownership and control?
Implications of Capital Market Developments
- Do changes in ownership models serve the best interests
of individual investors or intermediaries (or both)? Are
the current mechanisms of investor protection appropriate
for the new forms of investment and ownership?
- Has the evolution of capital markets and ownership
structures had unintended negative (or positive)
consequences for corporate performance and distribution
of capital?
- Does the emergence of new investors - including private
equity funds - help fix the problem of "short-termism" or
exacerbate it?
- Do private equity funds improve corporate performance by
methods applicable to public corporations? Are these
gains sustainable in the long-term? Are performance
improvements a cause or consequence of better governance?
What happens when the company goes public once again?
- Are there circumstances when the incentives and
strategies of private pools of capital are systematically
out of line with efficient allocation of capital in
society? Is this more or less true than it is for public
corporations?
- Are the "transaction costs" associated with the capital
markets - fees and other costs attributed to fund
managers, investors, underwriters, lawyers, etc. -
proportional to the enhancement of liquidity, costs of
capital, and corporate performance?
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS:
Scholars are invited to submit a detailed 4-5 page abstract
and outline of their proposed research project and paper by
February 4, 2008. Topics not specifically mentioned in
these pages that fit within the project parameters are
welcome. There is no submission fee.
A panel of Yale faculty members will select approximately
six papers for the Conference. Selected participants will
be notified by the mid-March 2008. Completed papers will
be expected by October 26, 2008. The conference is
tentatively scheduled for November 7-8, 2008.
Conference organizers will pay for travel to the conference
and room and board in New Haven, CT for the selected
authors. The Center will provide a $2,500 research award
to the authors of all selected papers to support research
required to complete the paper to be presented at the
Conference and an award of $5,000 to the authors of the
best paper.
If you wish to have your paper considered for presentation
at the conference, please submit your proposal
electronically, as a Word or PDF document. All identifying
information should be attached per separate cover page from
the abstract, via email to:
CONTACT: Michele Grammatico
Administrator
Millstein Center for Corporate Governance
and Performance
Yale School of Management
Email: MAILTO:michele.grammatico@yale.edu
We look forward to an exciting conference and hope you will
submit your paper for consideration.
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