Using a news-based index of aggregate policy uncertainty in the US economy, we document a strong negative relation between policy uncertainty and corporate risk-taking. We show that high levels of policy uncertainty are associated with significantly lower future stock return volatility at the...

The paper investigates the role of CEO's equity and risk incentives in boosting securitization in the financial industry and in motivating executives to reduce the perceived risk while betting on it. Using a sample of US financial institutions over the period 2003-2009 we document that CEOs with...

We analyze the effects of CEOs' layoff risk on their risk choice while overseeing a firm. A CEO, whose managerial ability is unknown, is fired if her expected ability is below average. Her risk choice changes the informativeness of output and market's belief about her ability. She can decrease...

We measure a manager's risk-taking incentives as the total sensitivity of the manager's debt, stock, and option holdings to firm volatility. We compare this measure to the option vega and to relative measures used by the prior literature. Vega does not capture risk-taking incentives from...

After decades of declining litigation risk, independent directors of public companies are viewed as effectively immune to personal litigation costs. However, the unexpected In re Investors Bancorp decision by the Delaware Supreme Court in 2017 lowered the liability threshold only for directors...

Research into group decision-making suggests that any optimal managerial compensation incentive design should incorporate synergistic interrelationships among top executives within a firm. This paper investigates whether the equity incentive structure of a management team affects firm-level...

This paper studies dynamic compensation and risk management under cash flow volatility shocks. The optimal contract depends critically on firms' ability to make good on promised future payments to managers. When volatility is low, firms with full commitment ability implement high pay-performance...

The paper investigates the role of CEO risk incentives in increasing the riskiness of securitization transactions in the financial industry. Using a sample of US financial institutions, and a system model to account for the endogeneity problem between risk incentives and securitization, we...

Does personal litigation risk for independent directors materially affect firm valuation, compensation-related issues for independent directors, and board composition decisions? We use the unexpected In re Investors Bancorp decision in 2017 by the Delaware Supreme Court, which lowered the...

This study explores whether shocks to climate-related uncertainty induce increased managerial short-termism. Theory suggests that when individuals face long-run uncertainty, they often resort to short-termism to realize more immediate and certain benefits. Consistent with this, we expect that...