We analyze a sample of 2,914 hiring contracts and show how job security plays a role in pay negotiation. We find a significant impact of job security on CEO pay using both firm and industry-level measures across US firms. In general, CEO candidates and the board members would trade pay for job...

Using hand-collected data on chief executive officer (CEO) non-compete agreements (NCAs), we find that NCAs are less likely when CEOs expect to incur greater personal costs from reduced job mobility and more likely when firms expect to suffer greater economic harm if departing CEOs work for...