1,578 research outputs found
The State of U.S. Corporate Governance: What's Right and What's Wrong?
The U.S. corporate governance system has recently been heavily criticized, largely as a result of failures at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and some other prominent companies. Those failures and criticisms, in turn, have served as catalysts for legislative change (Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002) and regulatory change (new governance guidelines from the NYSE and NASDAQ). In this paper, we consider two questions. First, is it clear that the U.S. system has performed that poorly; is it really that bad? Second, will the changes lead to an improved U.S. corporate governance system? We first note that the broad evidence is not consistent with a failed U.S. system. The U.S. economy and stock market have performed well both on an absolute basis and relative to other countries over the past two decades. And the U.S. stock market has continued to outperform other broad indices since the scandals broke. Our interpretation of the evidence is that while parts of the U.S. corporate governance system failed under the exceptional strain of the 1990s, the overall system, which includes oversight by the public and the government, reacted quickly to address the problems. We then consider the effects that the legislative, regulatory, and market responses are likely to have in the near future. Our assessment is that they are likely to make a good system better, though there is a danger of overreacting to extreme events.
The State of Corporate Governance 2004
The U.S. corporate governance system has recently been heavily criticized, largely as a result of failures at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and some other prominent companies. Those failures and criticisms, in turn, have served as catalysts for legislative change (Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002) and regulatory change (new corporate governance listing standards from the NYSE and NASDAQ). In this paper, we consider two questions. First, is it clear that the U.S. system has performed that poorly; is it really that bad? Second, will the changes lead to an improved U.S. corporate governance system. We first note that the broad evidence is not consistent with a failed U.S. system. The U.S. economy and stock market have performed well both on an absolute basis and relative to other countries over the past two decades. And the U.S. stock market continued to outperform other broad indices after the scandals broke. Our interpretation of the evidence is that while parts of the U.S. corporate governance system failed under the exceptional strain of the 1990s, the overall system, which includes oversight by the public and the government, reacted quickly to address the problems. We then consider the effects that the legislative, regulatory, and market responses are likely to have in the near future. Our assessment is that they are likely to make a good system better, though there is a danger of overreacting to extreme events.Technology and Industry, Regulatory Reform
Search for the Lepton-Number-Violating Decay
A sensitive search for the lepton-number-violating decay has been performed using a sample of hyperons
produced in 800 GeV/ -Cu collisions. We obtain at 90% confidence, improving on the best
previous limit by four orders of magnitude.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Evidence for the Decay Sigma+ -> p mu+ mu-
We report the first evidence for the decay Sigma+ -> p mu+ mu- from data
taken by the HyperCP experiment(E871) at Fermilab. Based on three observed
events, the branching ratio is B(Sigma+ -> p,mu+,mu-) = [8.6 +6.6,-5.4(stat)
+/-5.5(syst)] x 10**-8. The narrow range of dimuon masses may indicate that the
decay proceeds via a neutral intermediate state, Sigma+ -> p P0, P0 -> mu+ mu-,
with a P0 mass of 214.3 +/- 0.5 MeV/c**2 and branching ratio B(Sigma+ -> p P0;
P0 -> mu+ mu-) = [3.1 +2.4,-1.(stat) +/-1.5(syst)] x 10**-8.Comment: As published in PR
Vertical integration and firm boundaries : the evidence
Since Ronald H. Coase's (1937) seminal paper, a rich set of theories has been developed that deal with firm boundaries in vertical or input–output structures. In the last twenty-five years, empirical evidence that can shed light on those theories also has been accumulating. We review the findings of empirical studies that have addressed two main interrelated questions: First, what types of transactions are best brought within the firm and, second, what are the consequences of vertical integration decisions for economic outcomes such as prices, quantities, investment, and profits. Throughout, we highlight areas of potential cross-fertilization and promising areas for future work
Measurement of the Alpha Asymmetry Parameter for the Omega- to Lambda K- Decay
We have measured the alpha parameter of the Omega- to Lambda K- decay using
data collected with the HyperCP spectrometer during the 1997 fixed-target run
at Fermilab. Analyzing a sample of 0.96 million Omega- to Lambda K^-, Lambda to
p pi- decays, we obtain alpha_Omega*alpha_Lambda =
[1.33+/-0.33(stat)+/-0.52(syst)] x 10^{-2}. With the accepted value of
alpha_Lambda, alpha_Omega is found to be [2.07+/-0.51(stat)+/-0.81(syst)] x
10^{-2}.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be appeared as a Rapid Communication in Phys.
Rev.
Search for a new gauge boson in the Experiment (APEX)
We present a search at Jefferson Laboratory for new forces mediated by
sub-GeV vector bosons with weak coupling to electrons. Such a
particle can be produced in electron-nucleus fixed-target scattering and
then decay to an pair, producing a narrow resonance in the QED trident
spectrum. Using APEX test run data, we searched in the mass range 175--250 MeV,
found no evidence for an reaction, and set an upper limit of
. Our findings demonstrate that fixed-target
searches can explore a new, wide, and important range of masses and couplings
for sub-GeV forces.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, references adde
Sources of pro-cyclicality in east Asian financial systems
Procyclicality is a normal feature of economic systems, but financial sector
weaknesses can exacerbate it sufficiently to pose a threat to macroeconomic and financial
stability. These include shortcomings in bank risk management and governance, in
supervision and in terms of dependence on volatile sources of funds. The paper tests
econometrically for the importance of such features leading to pro-cyclicality in the financial
systems of 11 East Asian countries. This analysis makes it possible to identify specific policy
measures for East Asian countries that could limit the extent to which financial systems
exacerbate pro-cyclicality
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