Integrated ownership is often seen as a way to foster specific investments. However, even in integrated firms, managers invest to maximize their compensation, which is chiefly driven by divisional income. Thus it is not clear that integration has any effect on investments in a world of...

The board of directors performs the dual role of monitoring and advising the firm’s management. At times it makes certain key decisions itself. We study the optimal board composition (of monitoring and advisory “types”) within a cheap-talk framework where the CEO and the board each may...

This paper examines the use of ESG performance metrics in executive compensation contracts. We first document that a growing fraction of publicly traded companies around the world now incorporate ESG metrics in the compensation schemes of their top executives. Our analysis links the reliance on...