In tests of the relative performance evaluation (RPE) hypothesis, researchers rarely, if ever, aggregate peer performance in the same way as a firm’s board of directors. Framed as a standard errors-in-variables problem, a commonly-held view is that such aggregation errors induce an attenuation...

We study whether relative power in the CEO-CFO relationship influences CEO compensation. To operationalize relative power of a CEO over a CFO, we define CFO co-option as the appointment of a CFO after a CEO assumes office. We find that CFO co-option is associated with a CEO pay premium of about...

We investigate how mutual funds with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives vote on shareholder proposals related to executive compensation. Using a sample of 94,695 votes by 2,354 mutual funds from 2012 to 2021, we find that ESG funds are 9.4% more likely than non-ESG funds to...