The competitive target pay policy sets a target dollar number for total CEO compensation within a specified range of the amounts paid to a CEO’s peers chosen from similar sized firms in the same industry. If such a policy were widely adopted by compensation committees, we would observe a...

Using novel data from executive deferred compensation, this paper presents new evidence on the relationship between CEO risk preference and firm risk (the volatility of firm performance measures such as stock return, earnings and operating cash flows). My results show a negative association...

In 2002, the United Kingdom adopted a regulation allowing shareholders to cast non-binding (advisory) votes on their firm's Directors' Remuneration Report during annual general meetings (the 'Say-on-Pay' rule). This study evaluates a decade of this regulation and examines how it affected the...

The hottest topic in corporate governance circles today involves company commitments to and pursuit of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) initiatives in addition to the traditional pursuit of profits. One facet of this debate has to do with how to motivate executives to pursue ESG...

I investigate the determinants and consequences of granting equity to the target's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) during deal negotiations. These negotiation grants likely reflect information about the acquisition, benefit from the deal premium, and provide more timely bargaining incentives. I...

Using transactions generally overlooked in the compensation literature—joint ventures, strategic alliances, seasoned equity offerings (SEOs), and spin-offs—we find that, beyond compensation for increases in firm size or complexity, chief executive officers (CEOs) are rewarded for their...

This article examines the concept of corporate governance and provides an overview of the current state of legislation at the European and Austrian level, highlighting the crucial importance of transparency and disclosure requirements as components of corporate governance. A comparison of legal...

Unlike the failure of a non-financial firm, the failure of a systemically important financial firm will reduce the value of a diversified shareholder portfolio because of an increased level of systemic risk. Thus diversified shareholders of a financial firm generally internalize systemic risk...

Employee share ownership (ESO) has been the subject of significant public policy debate. In these debates, ESO plans are usually said to be implemented for a variety of reasons including alignment of employer and employee interests, increased employee productivity, improved workplace harmony,...

This article is a response to Professor Yair Listokin's article: Paying for Performance in Bankruptcy: Why CEOs Should be Compensated with Debt. In this response, I argue that the Professor Listokin's proposal is for empowering creditors' committees to bind all unsecured creditors to compensate...