Professor Michael S. Weisbach, the Ralph W. Kurtz Chair in Finance at Fisher, recently published a book titled The Handbook of the Economics of Corporate Governance, Volume 1.

Co-edited with Professor Benjamin E. Hermalin, the Thomas & Alison Schneider Distinguished Professor of Finance at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business, the book is the result of a multi-year effort. Weisbach and Hermalin collaborated with academic thought leaders from universities across the country with specializations in a wide range of subjects, including executive compensation, mergers and acquisitions, and legal dimensions of corporate governance. Individual chapter authors provided summaries of recent research within their respective areas of expertise.

"A handbook like this is very useful for PhD students, and even professors, to help provide understanding about what's new in a particular area of economics," Weisbach said. "It isn't intended to be read cover to cover.

"The book primarily focuses on the governance of for-profit corporations, but scholars and other researchers will find the topics useful for any type of enterprise."

In addition to his role as co-editor, Weisbach authored a chapter about learning models of corporate governance and co-wrote the book's introductory chapter with Hermalin. A summary of existing research, the book was written as a reference source for academics and high-level practitioners interested in gaining deeper understanding about current research in the area of corporate governance from an economics perspective.

Because of their previous research in corporate governance, Weisbach and Hermalin were asked to serve as editors by the book's publisher, Elsevier. The professors then approached other internationally recognized experts about contributing to the book.

"When Ben and I began the work, we first had to determine which topics we wanted to cover, then find professors who were willing to write about those topics," Weisbach said. "But the professors are all extremely busy, and they needed to find time to write their respective chapters."

Once the individual chapters were written, Weisbach and Hermalin wrote the book's introductory chapter. The co-editors have collaborated on other scholarly works in the past.

"The book is very beneficial for people doing research in the area, because you can read the summary about a particular topic and learn how that topic has developed, what different papers have been written on it, and learn what new questions are being asked by researchers."