Posted by Colin Green and Swarnodeep Homroy, Lancaster University, on Thursday, December 29, 2016
Editor's Note: Colin Green is Professor of Economics and Swarnodeep Homroy is Lecturer in Economics at Lancaster University. This post is based on their recent paper.
There is an increasing focus on the gender diversity of executive boards. While the share of female employment in large firms has increased dramatically in the United States and the European Union, this has not been reflected in the gender composition of executive boards (Black and Juhn, 2000; Bertrand and Hallock, 2001). Growing concerns about this lack of gender equality has led to a spate of regulation aimed at increasing female representation on corporate boards. Female representation on corporate boards is likely to remain a central theme of future interventions, yet existing evidence suggests no or even a negative effect of board gender diversity on firm performance (Adams and Ferreira, 2009; Gregory-Smith et al, 2014).