Do reputational concerns of financial intermediaries dampen credit booms and busts? Does this hold in the context of mortgage-backed securities? During a credit boom revolving around the securitization of West-Indian plantation-mortgages in the 1760s, high-reputation underwriters virtually...

We examine, both theoretically and empirically, the determinants and performance impact of three measures of CEO incentives: pay-performance elasticity (PPE), semi-elasticity (PPSE), and sensitivity (PPS). Larger, more R&D intensive, and low-idiosyncratic risk firms have higher PPE and PPSE,...