황선우 연구실

Abstract: After Sarbanes-Oxley, formal majority independence is near-universal, yet de facto capture persists. The first overtly non-independent (gray) appointment is a last-resort signal that ostensibly independent incumbents are covertly aligned and the board is effectively minority-independent. This first move from zero gray directors to a positive number is associated with a 4% decline in Tobin's Q; subsequent appointments have no incremental effect. The decline is concentrated in non-independence the proxy advisor surfaces but firms do not disclose. Stock-price reactions to sudden independent-director deaths are less negative on gray boards. Gray boards exhibit weaker CEO equity incentives and turnover-performance sensitivity. Abstract: Inventory buybacks, or suppliers repurchasing customers' unsold goods, are an unverifiable promise kept only where reneging forfeits future trade. In economy-wide Korean value-added-tax invoices over 2017-2021, reciprocal flows mark these arrangements in 4.7% of supplier-customer dyads yet mediate 35% of B2B sales. When COVID-19 stress-tests the promise, returns to suppliers rise 40% relative to entropy-balanced controls, customers substitute returns for new orders within relationships, and suppliers redeploy them through outlets in the returners' product space. Risky buyers pair with stable, broad-networked suppliers, and honoring concentrates among those able to pay when every insured customer claims at once. Abstract: Using matched employee-representative and management reports from the Korean Workplace Panel Survey, we measure an employee-minus-management culture wedge in labor-management relations. The wedge predicts higher future operating profitability, operating value added per payroll, and lower employee turnover, while one