Speaker:
Karin Thorburn
Norwegian School of Economics
Discussant:
Belen Villalonga
Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University
Abstract
Paper Authors: B. Espen Eckbo, Knut Nygaard, and Karin S. Thorburn
A board gender quota reduces firm value if it forces the appointment of under-qualified female directors. We test this hypothesis using Norway’s 2005 board gender-quota law, which increased the average fraction of female directors from 5% in 2001 to 40% by 2008. Statistically robust analyses of quotainduced shareholder announcement returns, and of long-run stock and accounting performance, fail to reject the hypothesis of a zero valuation effect of this economy-wide shock to board composition and director independence. Evidence on female director turnover and changes in director networks also fails to suggest that qualified female directors were in short supply.
