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		| Fabrizio  Rossi and Richard J. Cebula | 
	
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		| ''Does the Board of Directors Affect the Extent of Corporate R&D?  Evidence from Italian listed companies'' | 
	
		| ( 2015, Vol. 35 No.4 ) | 
	
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		| Using a panel dataset for 369 firm-year observations during the period 2005-2013 in the Italian context, we investigate the impact of certain characteristics of corporate boards on the magnitude of corporate Research and Development (R&D). Our findings reveal a negative relationship between R&D and board size on the one hand and between R&D and board ownership on the other hand. Moreover, we find strong evidence of a positive and statistically significant relationship between R&D and independent corporate board directors. In addition, we also find a relationship between R&D and board diversity effect, as measured by women and foreign members on the boardroom. Our study uses multiple econometric models to address endogeneity issues. | 
	
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		| Keywords: Board of Directors,  R&D,  Agency Theory,  Corporate Governance | 
	
		| JEL: G3 - Corporate Finance and Governance: General O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development: General
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		| | Manuscript Received : Aug 04 2015 |  | Manuscript Accepted : Dec 13 2015 | 
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