Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Corporate Boards and Incentives: Empirical Evid...
View graph of relations

Corporate Boards and Incentives: Empirical Evidence from the UK in 1935

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>2003
<mark>Journal</mark>Corporate Ownership and Control
Volume1
Number of pages10
Pages (from-to)129-138
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

We investigate boardroom governance using UK historical data for 1935. We demonstrate that there is a negative relationship between risk and incentives in this year. Prior research has produced anomalous results (Prendergast, 2002). Second, we show that average (median) board ownership of ordinary shares is about 7.95% (2.88%). Heuristically this figure is less than previously reported estimates for the US also using 1935 data. Finally, we show the phenomenon of multiple board membership. UK directors in 1935 hold many directorships – sometimes exceeding 10 concurrent memberships.