The Law & Economics of the AGM

Abstract

From a theoretical agency perspective, the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (‘AGM’) is an important corporate law solution for mitigating agency problems between shareholders and managers in large public corporations. At the AGM, shareholders are informed, they are offered a venue to discuss and ask questions, and they are involved in decision-making. Despite these theoretical important functions, the AGM is largely criticized in practice. Criticism contains, for example, rational apathy and free-rider behaviour that lead to low shareholder turnout, a lack of (meaningful) dialogue and side-stepping behaviour. Yet, fundamental empirical research on the AGM in practice is lacking, which makes this book highly relevant. This chapter provides the outline of the research that is conducted in this book.

Citation

Lafarre, A. (2017), "The Law & Economics of the AGM", The AGM in Europe, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78743-533-920171001