How do global board reforms affect managerial investment decisions?

Abstract

This study investigates how global board reforms affect managerial investment decisions. After remedying the biases of staggered difference-in-differences regression estimators, we corroborate that global board reforms significantly improve investment efficiency, reflected in the reduction of both over-investment and under-investment. Importantly, our analysis highlights that the real effects of these reforms occur through improved financial reporting quality. These results are primarily driven by reforms related to increased board and audit committee/auditor independence. Furthermore, global board reforms significantly affect investment efficiency more in comply-or-explain countries than in rule-based countries. Collectively, we provide new insights into how global board reforms improve investment efficiency.