ECON4245 ¨C Corporate Governance and Sustainability

Course content

The study of corporate governance is about the relationship between firms¡¯ management, board of directors and investors, and how these relationships affect how firms operate and perform. This course puts particular emphasis on the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and long-term sustainability for the firm and the broader economy.

The first part of the course introduces fundamental principles of corporate governance, including the incentive problems in situations with asymmetric information. These issues are studied using the principal-agent models from contract theory. The course then proceeds to focus on recent empirical research on corporate governance, with a particular focus on sustainability and ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues. This includes topics on CEO pay, gender balance in the board room, and climate change.

The course combines fundamental theoretical models and recent empirical research with a practical approach to discuss topics that are widely debated both in academia, the private sector and the public sector.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

You should know

• how asymmetric information between management, boards and owners affect firm efficiency through principal-agent problems, including moral hazard and adverse selection situations.
• the empirical literature on how the principal-agent problems are affected by the structure of the board, ownership structure and management compensation.
• the empirical literature on how corporate governance relates to various ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues.

Skills:

You should be able to

• formulate problems related to corporate governance and to use contract theoretic models to analyse such problems
• read, understand and assess the empirical methods used in the corporate governance literature
• read, understand and assess the empirical results in the corporate governance literature
• understand and the assess arguments appearing in the debate relating to the corporate governance and ESG issues

Competence:

You should

• be able to read and understand project reports and journal articles that make use of the concepts and methods that are introduced in the course
• be able to make use of the course content in your own academic work, for example in analyses that are part of the master¡¯s thesis

Admission to the course

Students admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

Students not admitted to the Master¡¯s programme in Economics or the Master¡¯s programme in Economic Theory and Econometrics (Samfunns?konomisk analyse), can apply for admission to one of our study programmes, or apply for guest student status.

Formal prerequisite knowledge

• ECON3150 ¨C Introductory Econometrics / ECON4150 ¨C Introductory Econometrics, or equivalent.
• Bachelor`s degree in Economics, or equivalent.

Recommended previous knowledge

• The course builds on fundamental principles in corporate finance. Students who have not taken a course in finance, such as ECON2500 - Investering og Finansiering or ECON4510 - Finance Theory, are expected to familiarize themselves with the fundamental principles in corporate finance, such as the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and the dividend discount model (DDM).

Overlapping courses

• 10 credits overlap with S?K531.
• 10 credits overlap with SO?531.
• 10 credits overlap with ECON531.

Teaching

Lectures and seminars.

Compulsory tuition activities:

• Ten short papers (around 1-2 pages each).

• Seven out of ten papers must be approved.

• Each one of the ten papers is to be handed in before the seminar.

You only get new attempt if you have passed six out of ten assignments.Additional information about compulsory activity will be provided in Canvas.

When the compulsory term paper is approved, the result will be registered. You don¡¯t have to resubmit the assignment if you wish to retake an exam.

See The Faculty of Social Sciences` rules regarding compulsory tuition activities.

Candidates who have passed the course before autumn 2022 and wish to re-take the exam need to get the papers approved before they can re-take the exam.

Absence from compulsory tuition activities

If you are ill or have another valid reason for being absent from compulsory tuition activities, your absence may be approved or the compulsory activity may be postponed.

• Report absence from or the need for a postponed deadline on a compulsory tuition activity

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.

Access to teaching

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.

Course responsible can at the beginning of the semester update the syllabus list by changing no more than three articles, though in a way that it will not change the overall scope or thematic content of the course.

The syllabus also includes any lecture notes that will be made available for the students in Canvas.

Examination

The examination will be a 3 hour written schoolexamination.

You must have passed the mandatory activities in order to sit for the exam.

Previous exams

Exam papers with comments from examiner

Examination support material

Students may use dictionaries at this exam. Dictionaries must be handed in before the examination. Please read regulations for dictionaries permitted at the examination.

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English. You may submit your response in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Resit an examination

If you are sick or have another valid reason for not attending the regular exam, we offer a postponed exam later in the same semester.

See also our information about resitting an exam.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.