Innovation and institutional ownership

Aghion, Philippe, Van Reenen, John ORCID: 0000-0001-9153-2907 and Zingales, Luigi (2009) Innovation and institutional ownership. CEP Discussion Papers (911). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.

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Abstract

We find that institutional ownership in publicly traded companies is associated with more innovation (measured by cite-weighted patents). To explore the mechanism through which this link arises, we build a model that nests the lazy-manager hypothesis with career-concerns, where institutional owners increase managerial incentives to innovate by reducing the career risk of risky projects. The data supports the career concerns model. First, whereas the lazy manager hypothesis predicts a substitution effect between institutional ownership and product market competition (and managerial entrenchment generally), the career-concern model allows for complementarity. Empirically, we reject substitution effects. Second, CEOs are less likely to be fired in the face of profit downturns when institutional ownership is higher. Finally, using instrumental variables, policy changes and disaggregating by type of owner we find that the effect of institutions on innovation does not appear to be due to endogenous selection.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/series.asp?...
Additional Information:	© 2009 the authors
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance Economics
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
JEL classification:	O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O31 - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes G - Financial Economics > G3 - Corporate Finance and Governance > G32 - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O32 - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D G - Financial Economics > G2 - Financial Institutions and Services > G20 - General
Date Deposited:	12 Oct 2009 15:42
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 23:16
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/25480

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