Publication of the REF 130 - July 2018 " Corporate governance

Corporate governance is evolving. In the nineties it was focused on stockholder value and on the relation between shareholders and managers. Today it faces the necessity of taking into account the other stakeholders of the firm, especially its employees, but also social stakes, such as the preservation of the environment. This issue of the REF offers an inventory of the current research on this topic and of how practice is evolving. This issue is divided into four sections. The first deals with the purpose of governance and the comparative advantages of the various existing regulations for implementing it. This is followed by a section devoted to the owners of the capital of the firm and the particular goals of the various categories of shareholders. Next comes an analysis of governance mechanisms: boards of directors, general assemblies, and managers. Finally, another section takes up the specific stakes of governance in the banking sector.

The Review also proposes an article on financial history devoted to the role of American investment banks in the oversight of companies at the beginning of the twentieth century. Finally, it includes two other articles. The first concerns the stakes involved in reducing the Fed’s balance sheet, and the second relationships between savings and loans.