A common view is that there is little correlation between firm performance and CEO pay. Using a new 15-year panel data set of CEOs in the largest publicly traded U.S. companies, we document a strong relationship between firm performance and CEO compensation. This relationship is generated almost...

What determines CEO incentives? A confusion exists among both academics and practitioners about how to measure the strength of CEO incentives and how to reconcile the enormous differences in pay sensitivities between executives in large and small firms. We show that while one measure of CEO...

We analyze and explore option fragility, the notion that option incentives are fragile due to their non-linear payoff structure. Option incentives become weaker as options fall underwater, leading to pressures to reprice options or restore incentives through additional grants of equity-based...