Pajuste Anete

Anete Pajuste holds a PhD in Finance from the Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden). She is currently a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Program on Corporate Governance of Harvard Law School. She is also a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) and a founder and board member of the Baltic Family Firm Institute (BFFI).

Her recent research focuses on corporate governance and controlling shareholders. In particular, she has written on the life-cycle effects of dual-class shares, boardroom racial diversity, and responsible investing. Anete has published in the Journal of Corporate Finance, Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Journal of Banking and Finance, and Journal of Law and Economics, among others.

Professor Pajuste has been teaching accounting and finance related courses since 2000, at the undergraduate, MBA, EMBA and executive education level, and has an extensive experience and training in participant centered learning methods such as cases and experiential learning.

In parallel with her academic work, Anete serves as a consultant on firm valuation, cost accounting, investment management and financial planning issues and shares her practical knowledge from investing in equities and real estate. Prior to joining academia, Anete worked in asset management.

Research interests

ESG (boardroom diversity; unequal voting rights; divestments; stakeholder governance), law and finance, family firms

Selected publications

2,527 citations (source: Google Scholar, December 2022)

Boardroom Racial Diversity: Evidence from the Black Lives Matter Protests, with Maksims Dzabarovs and Romans Madesovs, Corporate Governance: An International Review (2022, forthcoming)

Corporate Response to the War in Ukraine: Stakeholder Governance or Stakeholder Pressure? with Anna Toniolo, 10 Emory Corp. Governance & Accountability Rev. 1 (2022)

The Life Cycle of Dual-Class Firm Valuation, with Martijn Cremers and Beni Lauterbach, Review of Corporate Finance Studies (2022, forthcoming)

The Effect of Domestic to Foreign Ownership Change on Firm Performance in Europe, with Mārtiņš Lindemanis and Artūrs Loze, International Review of Financial Analysis, vol. 81, May 2022.

Management Reporting Complexity and Earnings Management:  Evidence from the Baltic Markets, with Reinis Novickis and Elva Poriete, Baltic Journal of Management, vol. 16(1), p. 47-69, 2020.

Loyalty Shares with Tenure Voting – Does the Default Rule Matter? Evidence from the Loi Florange Experiment, with Marco Becht and Yuliya Kamisarenka, Journal of Law and Economics, vol. 63(3), p. 473-499, 2020.

Wage dynamics and worker mobility during deep recessions, with Hernan Ruffo, Baltic Journal of Economics, vol. 19(1), p. 52-83, 2019.

The Media and Firm Reputation Roles in Corporate Governance Improvements: Lessons from European Dual Class Share Unifications, with Beni Lauterbach, Corporate Governance: An International Review, vol. 25(1), p. 4-19, 2017.

The Long-term Valuation Effects of Voluntary Dual Class Share Unifcations, with Beni Lauterbach, Journal of Corporate Finance, vol. 31, p. 171-185, 2015.

Private Benefits of Control and Dual-class Share Unifications, with Benjamin Maury, Managerial and Decision Economics, vol. 32, p. 355-369, 2011.

Do Good Governance Provisions Shelter Investors from Contagion? Evidence from the Russian Crisis, Economics of Transition, vol. 15(4), p. 807-824, 2007.

What Do Firms Disclose and Why? Enforcing Corporate Governance and Transparency in Central and Eastern Europe, with Erik Berglöf, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, vol. 21(2), p. 178-197, 2005.

Multiple Large Shareholders and Firm Value, with Benjamin Maury, Journal of Banking and Finance, vol. 29, p. 1813-1834, 2005.  

Emerging Owners, Eclipsing Markets? Corporate Governance in Transition, with Erik Berglöf, in “Corporate Governance and Capital Flows in a Global Economy” edited by P.K. Cornelius and B. Kogut, Oxford University Press, 2003.

Firm Performance and Ownership in Latvia, Baltic Economic Trends, 2003.

Controlling Shareholders, Agency Problems, and Dividend Policy in Finland, with Benjamin Maury, Finnish Journal of Business Economics, vol. 1(2), p. 15-45, 2002.

Risk Factors and Predictability of Stock Returns in Central and Eastern Europe, with Peter Högfeldt and Gatis Kepitis, Emerging Markets Quarterly, Summer, p. 7-24, 2000.

Working papers

Voice Through Divestment, with Marco Becht and Anna Toniolo (December 2022)

Governance and Corporate Net Impact, with Benjamin Maury and Niclas Meyer (September 2022)

Family Firm Performance in Latvia, with Artis Veldre and Elvis Ancāns (June 2022)

Membership in professional organisations

Ad hoc referee: Management Science, Journal of Corporate Finance; Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis; Journal of Banking and Finance; Journal of Business Finance and Accounting; European Financial Management; Journal of Institutional Economics; Israel Science Foundation; Economics of Transition; Journal of Management and Governance; Journal of Comparative Economics; International Review of Law and Economics

Recent grants and awards

Grant from Latvijas Zinātnes Padome (lzp-2018/2-0067), 2018

Grant from the Global Development Network (No.586), 2013