1. Introduction 2. Stock Valuation 3. Dividend Policy and Owners' Wealth 4. An Introduction to Imperfect Capital Markets 5. Dividends and Taxes 6. Dividend Policy and Agency Problems 7. Dividend Policy and Asymmetric Information 8. Corporate Dividend Policy Decisions 9. Dividend Policy: The Global Perspective 10. Common Stock Repurchases: An Alternative to Dividends 11. Management Implications and Conclusions

List of contributors. Acknowledgment. The performance of privatization stocks in emerging markets: the role of political risk (F.E. Huibers, E. Perotti). On partial sales and underpricing in privatization (Seung-doo Choi). Role of ownership in Chinese privatization: empirical evidence From returns in IPOS of Chinese A-Shares, 1990-1993 (Chak Tong Chau, C.S. Ciccotello and C.T. Grant). An empirical investigation of the relationship between ownership structure and operating performance of newly privatized Czech firms (J.T. Harper, T. Krehbiel). Financial systems in ex-Soviet block transition economies (L.D. Johnson, E.H. Neave and B. Pazderka). How does privatization work? evidence from Italian banking system (M. Giorgino, E. Magnani).

While Advances continues to publish papers from any area of Finance, the focus of this issue is on corporate governance, broadly defined as the system of controls that helps corporations and other organizations effectively manage, administer, and direct economic resources. Papers of this title deal with the role played by boards of directors, impact of ownership, executive compensation, and investor protection. Other papers deal with stock repurchases, default, banking, financial sector development, and the Asian financial crisis. Papers cover a wide range of international experience, including evidence from the U.S., Japan, Israel, Malaysia, China, and New Zealand. Papers cover a wide range of international experience with this issue focusing on corporate governance. This book series is available electronically at website