Corporate governance and the variability of stock returns: evidence from New Zealand companies

Abstract

In this paper, we document the beneficial impact of firm level corporate governance practices on the riskiness of firms’ stock returns. Using a self-constructed corporate governance index, we show that well-governed New Zealand firms experience lower levels of unsystematic risk, ceteris paribus. In particular, our results show that corporate governance components such as board composition, shareholder rights, and disclosure practices are associated with lower levels of unsystematic risk.