Event study methods in corporate governance studies

Our goal in this chapter is to point out potential problems associated with applying conventional event study methodology to corporate governance studies (CG). It can be viewed as a nontechnical reference for those who want to conduct an event study but are not yet familiar with the subject matter. To our knowledge, existing works that address the methodological problems of event studies or provide insightful reviews of published methods are highly technical and are suitable mainly for advanced readers. This chapter deals mainly with techniques for examining short-term price changes at the time of the event, while describing methods for analyzing price movements over a long period after the event.

Existing evidence from simulations and empirical studies suggests that the short time horizon tests appear to be more robust to potential statistical problems.