Center for Corporate Ethics and Governance

Improving corporate ethics and public policy through objective, empirical research and analysis.

The RAND Center for Corporate Ethics and Governance, or CCEG, is committed to improving public understanding of corporate ethics, law, and governance, and to identifying specific ways that businesses can operate ethically, legally, and profitably at the same time.

The CCEG is dedicated to three objectives:

Creating more effective public policies
Promoting more ethical, self-governing corporate cultures, and
Improving public trust in the corporate world.

Publications

For Whom the Whistle Blows: Advancing Corporate Compliance and Integrity Efforts in the Era of Dodd-Frank

The debate over the new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission whistleblower rules overshadows a deeper question for corporations and regulators—how best to reconcile strong compliance and internal reporting mechanisms with the incentives created by the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to report fraud directly to the SEC.

Full Document

How Whistleblower Rule Enables Corporate Compliance

The kerfuffle over Dodd-Frank conceals broad agreement that corporate fraud and misconduct are bad and that internal compliance mechanisms are intended to protect companies as well the community at large from bad behavior, write Michael Greenberg and Donna Boehme.

Commentary

Chipping Away at the Glass Ceiling: Gender Spillovers in Corporate Leadership

The role of women helping women at the highest levels of firm leadership in corporate America—among the directors and top executives of large corporations—indicates that relationships forged by these two groups consequently increase the amount of female executives.

Full Document

A Female Style in Corporate Leadership? Evidence from Quotas

In 2006, Norway mandated that the boards of public companies be at least 40 percent female. The quota appears to have had an impact on the management style these firms, consequently affecting their workforce reductions, labor costs, employment levels, and short-term profits.

Download the Full Document from econ-www.mit.edu

Directors as Guardians of Compliance and Ethics Within the Corporate Citadel

The collapse of financial markets in late 2008 has invited renewed questions about the governance, compliance, and ethics practices of firms. RAND convened a symposium to explore the perspective and role of corporate boards of directors in overseeing ethics and compliance matters within their firms.

Sarbanes Oxley Has Non-Monetary Costs

Sarbanes Oxley is widely considered the most comprehensive business legislation since the New Deal. While research has been done on the financial costs, little is known about the non-monetary effects. This study evaluates those effects, finding that as a result of the legislation firms have been harmed, and/or have decreased in value.

What the Policy Community Should Know About Corporate Compliance, Ethics, and Misdeeds

Improving corporate compliance, ethics, and oversight has been a significant policy goal for the U.S. government for decades, and made more salient by the collapse of financial markets in late 2008. On March 5, 2009, RAND convened a conference in Washington, D.C., on the role and perspectives of corporate chief ethics and compliance officers in the detection and prevention of corporate misdeeds.

Behavioral Finance Forum to be Hosted by RAND

The Behavioral Finance Forum, an organization dedicated to helping consumers make better financial decisions, will become an initiative of the nonprofit RAND Corporation.

News Release

Throw Out the Inside Traders

Just a few years ago, insider trading was considered "dirty." It was the province of marginal players working on the fringe of the capital markets... But today insider trading has proliferated and gone global, writes Larry Zicklin.

Commentary

Complexity of Industry Makes It Difficult to Distinguish Broker-Dealers & Investment Advisers

The financial services industry is complex and financial service professionals are becoming less distinguishable and more inter-related. However, investors are generally highly satisfied with their own financial service providers.

Going-Private Decisions and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: A Cross-Country Analysis

This paper investigates whether the regulatory regime created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) has driven firms in general, and small firms in particular, out of the public capital market.

Cataclysmic Liability Risk Among Big Four Auditors

Since the implosion of Arthur Andersen in 2002, many have advocated that the auditing industry should be insulated from legal liability, arguing that the profession faces such high risk of cataclysmic liability that its future viability is imperiled. This article discusses the legal, theoretical, and empirical nature of that claim.

Abstract

More »Events

CCEG to Cosponsor Event with Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance — May 3, 2011

On May 3, 2011, the CCEG cosponsored a seminar with the University of Delaware's John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance. The event addressed the role of boards of directors in overseeing compliance and ethics, particularly within financial institutions. This opportunity provided a valuable platform for discussion on this important topic, and built upon the findings in CCEG's 2010 conference report, Directors as Guardians of Compliance and Ethics Within the Corporate Citadel: What the Policy Community Should Know.

icon 2010 Conference Proceedings

CCEG Holds Policy Symposium Featuring the Chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) — Mar. 28, 2011

On March 28, 2011, CCEG held a Policy Symposium luncheon with featured speaker, Phil Angelides, Chairman of the FCIC. During the symposium, titled "Lessons Learned from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission," Angelides discussed his experience on the Commission's 10-member bipartisan panel as well as the Commission's findings relating to the causes of the nation's financial and economic crisis. The event was co-hosted by the RAND Institute for Civil Justice and the UCLA-RAND Center for Law and Public Policy.

icon Read More at fcic.gov

National Association of Corporate Directors Event Features CCEG Director as Moderator — Mar. 2, 2011

Michael Greenberg, director of the RAND Center for Corporate Ethics and Governance, moderated the discussion at the NACD Three Rivers Chapter, Brave New World: Transformation of Corporate Governance or An Era of Regulatory Reform on March 2. The event featured RAND trustee, James E. Rohr, chairman and CEO of PNC Financial services, and director of Blackrock, EQT, ATI, and International Monetary Conference.