Download This PaperThe Global Diffusion of Stewardship Codes
An edited version of the paper will be published as a chapter in Global Shareholder Stewardship: Complexities, Challenges and Possibilities (Dionysia Katelouzou & Dan W. Puchniak eds, Cambridge University Press, Forthcoming)
European Corporate Governance Institute - Law Working Paper No. 526/2020
53 Pages Posted: 5 Jun 2020 Last revised: 23 Nov 2020
Date Written: May 29, 2020
Abstract
In today’s world, the transfer of laws and regulations between different legal systems is commonplace. The global spread of stewardship codes in recent years presents a promising, but yet untested, terrain to explore the diffusion of such norms. This paper aims to fill this gap. Employing the method of content analysis and using information from 41 stewardship codes enacted between 1991 and 2019, we systematically examine the formal diffusion of these stewardship codes. While we find support for the diffusion story of the UK as a stewardship norm exporter, especially in former British colonies in Asia, we also find evidence of diffusion from transnational initiatives, such as the EFAMA and ICGN codes, as well as regional clusters. We also show that the UK Stewardship Code of 2020 now deviates from these current models; thus, it remains to be seen how far a second round of exportation of the revised UK model into the transnational arena will follow.
Keywords: institutional investors, stewardship codes, diffusion of norms, legal transplants, content analysis
JEL Classification: C38, K22
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Dionysia Katelouzou (Contact Author)
King's College London - The Dickson Poon School of Law ( email )
Somerset House East Wing
Strand
London, London WC2R 2LS
United Kingdom
European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )
c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
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1000 Brussels
Belgium
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