Marc van Essen
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van Essen
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Marc

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  • Publication
    What determines crime rates? An empirical test of integrated economic and sociological theories of criminal behavior
    (Elsevier, 2016-06)
    Engelen, Peter-Jan
    ;
    Lander, Michel
    ;
    van Essen, Marc
    Research on crime has by no means reached a definitive conclusion on which factors are related to crime rates. We contribute to the crime literature by providing an integrated empirical model of economic and sociological theories of criminal behavior and by using a very comprehensive set of economic, social as well as demographic explanatory variables. We use panel data techniques to estimate this integrated crime model for property and violent crime using the entire population of all 100 counties in North Carolina for the years 2001-2005. Both fields contribute to the explanatory power of the integrated model. Our results support the economic explanation of crime with respect to the deterrent effect of the probabilities of arrest and imprisonment concerns, as well as the time allocation model of criminal activities. In contrast, the integrated model seems to reject the impact of the severity of punishment on crime levels. With respect to the sociological theories of crime, we find most support for the social disorganization theory and for the routine activity theory. Finally, we find differences between property and violent crimes, mostly explained by the sociological models.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: The Social Science Journal
    Volume: 53
    Issue: 2
    DOI: 10.1016/j.soscij.2015.09.001
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/104284
    Scopus© Citations 12
  • Publication
    Does ‘good' corporate governance help in a crisis? The impact of country- and firm-level governance mechanisms in the European financial crisis
    (Blackwell, 2013-05-01)
    van Essen, Marc
    ;
    Engelen, Peter-Jan
    ;
    Carney, Micheal
    By using hierarchical linear modeling, we show that 25 percent of the heterogeneity in firm performance is among countries, indicating the importance of including country-level institutions in our analyses. We find that the general quality of the legal system and creditor rights protection are positively related to firm performance. Moreover, at the firm level, we find that larger and more active boards, where the role of board chairman and CEO are combined in same person performed the best, while ownership wedge and more CEO equity based compensation negatively impact firm performance during the recent financial crisis. Finally, our study shows that both levels - firm and country -do not substitute or complement each other with respect to firm performance, but rather function independently from each other.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Corporate Governance: An International Review
    Volume: 21
    Issue: 3
    DOI: 10.1111/corg.12010
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/89347
    Scopus© Citations 171
  • Publication
    Competition and cooperation in corporate governance: The effects of labor institutions on blockholder effectiveness in 23 European countries
    (Informs, 2013-03)
    van Essen, Marc
    ;
    van Oosterhout, Hans
    ;
    Heugens, Pursey
    We provide an analysis of the costs and benefits of blockholding in Europe, where it is a dominant but certainly not universal corporate governance strategy for shareholders of publicly listed firms. We find that the effectiveness of blockholding is conditioned by the specific labor institutions that distinguish European countries from the rest of the world, and that these institutional effects involve both competition and cooperation between blockholders and collective labor interests. We also find that relational blockholders are better able to cope with, or benefit from, these institutional effects than arm's-length blockholders. Empirically we use advanced meta-analytic methods on a total sample of 748,569 firm-year observations, derived from 162 studies covering 23 European countries.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Organization Science
    Volume: 24
    Issue: 2
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1120.0742
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/89586
    Scopus© Citations 50
  • Publication
    An institution-based view of executive compensation: A multilevel meta-analytic test
    (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012-05)
    van Essen, Marc
    ;
    Heugens, Pursey
    ;
    Otten, Jordan
    ;
    van Oosterhout, Hans
    We offer a multilevel meta-analytic study of the firm performance-executive compensation relationship, comprising prior tests derived from 332 primary studies nested in 29 countries. Although our work modestly supports the optimal contracting theory-based expectation that compensation is positively associated with performance, it also reveals considerable cross-country variability in this relationship. We trace this variance to differences in the level of development of the formal and informal institutions protecting investors against managerial overcompensation and underperformance. In terms of intentionally devised and enforced formal institutions, we find significant positive moderating effects on the focal relationship of the rule of law and strength of investor protection variables. For self-enforcing informal institutions, we find similar effects for concentrated ownership and compensation-related entries in codes of good corporate governance. We also find that formal and informal institutions function in a complementary manner in shaping the performance sensitivity of executive compensation. The focal relationship becomes stronger when concentrated owners have access to well-functioning courts, and when informal norms of good governance are supported by shareholder protection laws. Our study thus suggests that optimal contracting theory must be supplemented with an institution-based view, to account for the conditioning effects of institutions on national contracting environments.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Journal of International Business Studies
    Volume: 43
    Issue: 4
    DOI: 10.1057/jibs.2012.6
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/91725
    Scopus© Citations 109
  • Publication
    Corporate boards and performance of Asian firms: A meta-analysis
    (Springer US, 2012-12)
    van Essen, Marc
    ;
    van Oosterhout, Hans
    ;
    Carney, Micheal
    The prevalence of ownership concentration in Asian firms presents a challenge to the influential agency theory-based understanding of the role of corporate boards. In this paper we develop and test hypotheses about board attributes and firm performance that reflect Asian institutional conditions. We present the first meta-analysis of the relationship between board attributes and performance of Asian firms using a varied set of meta-analytical techniques on a database of 86 studies covering nine Asian countries. First, we find that board structure and composition preferences are influenced by the identity of the concentrated owner. Second, consistent with US data, we find very limited evidence of a direct relationship between board attributes and firm financial performance in the Asian context. Third, we find that the relationship between board structure and composition and firm performance is mediated by the revealed strategic preferences of Asian firms specifically by the level of R&D investment.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Asia Pacific Journal of Management
    Volume: 29
    Issue: 4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10490-011-9269-1
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/90669
    Scopus© Citations 119
  • Publication
    Business group affiliation, performance, context, and strategy: A meta-analysis
    (Academy of Management, 2011-06)
    Carney, Michael
    ;
    Gedajlovic, Eric
    ;
    Heugens, Pursey
    ;
    van Essen, Marc
    ;
    van Oosterhout, Hans
    Research on business groups - legally independent firms tied together in a variety of formal and informal ways - is accelerating. Through meta-analytical techniques employed on a database of 141 studies covering 28 different countries, we synthesize this research and extend it by testing several new hypotheses. We find that affiliation diminishes firm performance in general, but also that affiliates are comparatively better off in contexts with underdeveloped financial and labor market institutions. We also trace the affiliation discount to specific strategic actions taken at the firm and group levels. Overall, our results indicate that affiliate performance reflects complex processes and motivations.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Academy of Management Journal
    Volume: 54
    Issue: 3
    DOI: 10.5465/AMJ.2011.61967812
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/94071
    Scopus© Citations 394
  • Publication
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Journal of Banking and Finance
    Volume: 34
    Issue: 8
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/96922
  • Publication
    Meta-analyzing ownership concentration and firm performance in Asia: Towards a more fine-grained understanding
    (Springer Science + Business Media B.V, 2009-09)
    Heugens, Pursey
    ;
    van Essen, Marc
    ;
    van Oosterhout, Hans
    We present a meta-analysis of the relationship between concentrated ownership and firm financial performance in Asia. At the cross-national level of analysis, we find a small but significant positive association between both variables. This finding suggests that in regions with less than perfect legal protection of minority shareholders, ownership concentration is an efficient corporate governance strategy. Yet, a focus on this aggregate effect alone conceals the existence of true heterogeneity in the effect size distribution. We purposefully model this heterogeneity by exploring moderating effects at the levels of owner identity and national institutions. Regarding owner identity, we find that our focal relationship is stronger for foreign than for domestic owners, and that pure "market" investors outperform "stable" or "inside" owners whom are multiply tied to the firm. Regarding institutions, we find that a certain threshold level of institutional development is necessary to make concentrated ownership an effective corporate governance strategy. Yet we also find that strong legal protection of shareholders makes ownership concentration inconsequential and therefore redundant. Finally, in jurisdictions where owners can easily extract private benefits from the corporations they control, the focal relationship becomes weaker, presumably due to minority shareholder expropriation.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Asia Pacific journal of management : APJM
    Volume: 26
    Issue: 3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10490-008-9109-0
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/75638
    Scopus© Citations 189
  • Publication
    Underpricing of IPOs and Legal Frameworks Around the World
    (De Gruyter, 2008-01-01)
    Engelen, Peter-Jan
    ;
    van Essen, Marc
    This paper analyzes the relationship around the world between the underpricing of IPOs and a country's legal framework. From the theoretical research we expect a negative relationship between a higher level of investor protection (and other measures of a country's legal framework) and the level of underpricing. The empirical results support our expectations and show a negative relationship between a country's legal framework and the underpricing of IPOs. In this way, this study adds to the growing law and finance literature. Firms in countries with stronger investor protection (and other measures of the country's legal framework) have, ceteris paribus, lower costs to go public, and thus an international advantage in comparison to firms from other countries with less developed legal frameworks.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Review of Law and Economics
    Volume: 4
    Issue: 1
    DOI: 10.2202/1555-5879.1238
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/78802
    Scopus© Citations 6
  • Publication
    Type: conference paper
    Journal: Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings 2018
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/101019