We examine the real effects of disclosing information about the pay gap between the CEO and employees. Firms reporting higher pay ratios tend to include discretionary narrative portraying their employee relations or compensation practices in a positive light. Reporting higher ratios is...

We provide evidence on how personal shocks that plausibly reduce a CEO's career horizon, triggered by either the CEO's diagnosis of a serious illness or an illness or death of a close relative, affect key corporate policies. We validate our identification strategy by showing that these events...