Gompers, Paul A., Ishii, Joy L. and Metrick, Andrew, Corporate Governance and Equity Prices. Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 118, No. 1, pp. 107, February 2003

Seminal paper analyzing the impact of 24 governance factors on equity returns.

Bebchuk, Lucian A., Cohen, Alma and Ferrell, Allen, What Matters in Corporate Governance? Review of Financial Studies, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 783, February 2009.

Refines Gompers into six most significant factors.

Impact of governance on equity returns

Fodor, Andy and Diavatopoulos, Dean, Does Corporate Governance Matter for Equity Returns? (February 2, 2010).

Critique of Gompers and Bebchuk papers.

Gillan, Stuart L. and Starks, Laura T., The Evolution of Shareholder Activism in the United States. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol. 19, Issue 1, pp. 55, Winter 2007.

Summary of a number of earlier analyses, with a thorough explanation of activism.

Impact of activist investing on equity returns

Clifford, Christopher, Value Creation or Destruction? Hedge Funds as Shareholder Activists (June 2007).

Working paper

Excess returns of 8-21%

Boyson, Nicole M. and Mooradian, Robert M., Hedge Funds as Shareholder Activists from 1994-2005 (July 31, 2007).

Working paper

Excess returns of 7-11%

Brav, Alon, Jiang, Wei, Thomas, Randall S. and Partnoy, Frank, Hedge Fund Activism, Corporate Governance, and Firm Performance. Journal of Finance, Vol. 63, No. 4, pp. 1729, May 2008.

Published paper

Excess returns of 7%

Klein, April and Zur, Emanuel, Entrepreneurial Shareholder Activism: Hedge Funds and Other Private Investors. Journal of Finance, Vol. 64, No. 1, pp. 187, February 2009.

Published paper

Excess returns of 21.6%

Greenwood, Robin, and Schor, Michael, Investor Activism and Takeovers. Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 92, No. 3 , pp. 362, June 2009.

Published paper

Excess returns of 10.3%, due mostly to M&A

Brav, Alon, Jiang, Wei and Kim, Hyunseob, Hedge Fund Activism: A Review. Foundations and Trends in Finance, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 185, 2009.

Published paper

Survey of five preceding papers.

Larcker, David F., Ormazabal, Gaizka and Taylor, Daniel J., The Market Reaction to Corporate Governance Regulation (October 14, 2010). Journal of Financial Economics (JFE), Forthcoming; Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Working Paper Series No. 82.

Analysis finds that governance changes do not add shareholder value.

Bratton, William W., Hedge Funds and Governance Targets: Long-Term Results (September 8, 2010). University of Pennsylvania Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper No. 10-17.

Analysis finds no excess returns from activism.

Gantchev, Nickolay M., The Costs of Shareholder Activism: Evidence from a Sequential Decision Model. Working paper, November 2009.

Estimates average cost of $10.5 million for a complete proxy effort.

Becker, Bo, Bergstresser, Daniel, and Subramanian, Guhan, Does Shareholder Proxy Access Improve Firm Value? Evidence from the Business Roundtable Challenge. Working paper, October 2010.

Analysis finds proxy access would increase shareholder value at affected companies.

Kahan, Marcel and Rock, Edward B., The Insignificance of Proxy Access (October 21, 2010). U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper No. 10-26; NYU Law and Economics Research Paper No. 10-51.

Law review article finds proxy access applies in an immaterial number of companies.

Proxy access