This paper examines the relationship between top management compensation and corporate performance in public utilities. Previous researchers have argued that incentives for profitability are not needed in public utilities, since regulation provides assured profits. Earlier empirical work...

We create a dynamic model in which a self-interested, risk-averse manager makes corporate investment decisions at a levered firm with characteristics typical of public US firms. We examine the magnitude of distortions in those decisions when a new project changes firm risk and find expected...

Franchising is commonly viewed as a source of expansion capital for small companies with "limited access to capital markets". Franchising, however, is used by many large, publicly traded companies. This paper summarizes the agency-cost explanation for why firms franchise and provides related...