We examine how executives' ability to control their firm's exposure to risk affects the design of their incentive-compensation contracts. Using the introduction of exchanged-traded weather derivatives as a natural experiment, we find that executives who became more able to control their firm's...

We investigate whether the mix of financial covenants in debt contracts allows lenders to screen borrowers based on their private information about their future risk-taking intentions. Consistent with adverse selection theories, we predict and find that borrowers with greater risk-taking...

Dozens of countries have established Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) in the last decade or so, in the majority of cases employing those Funds to manage the large revenues gained from selling resources such as oil and gas on a tide of rapidly rising commodity prices. These Funds have raised a...

We review recent literature on the role of corporate financial reporting and transparency in reducing governance-related agency conflicts between managers, directors, shareholders, and other stakeholders — most notably regulators — and suggest some avenues for future research. Key themes...

We extend the CAPM to a setting where a firm reports earnings prior to selling shares to investors. We show that an entrepreneur, as representative of a firm's initial owners, will choose to report earnings that asymmetrically reflect future cash flow. In modeling the entrepreneur's reporting...

This study investigates the relation between the use of compensation consultants and CEO pay levels. Using new proxy statement disclosures from 2,116 companies, we examine claims that pay is higher in clients of compensation consultants, and test whether any pay differences in users and...

This study estimates chief executive officers' (CEO) subjective valuation of their equity holdings using their revealed preferences conveyed by their decisions to hold or exercise their stock options and to hold or sell their equity shares. Using a random utility framework, I find that the...

Although stock options are commonly observed in chief executive officer (CEO) compensation contracts, there is theoretical controversy about whether stock options are part of the optimal contract. Using a sample of Fortune 500 companies, we solve an agency model calibrated to the...

This study examines how executives' and lower-level employees' option exercise behavior affects firms' stock option grant cost estimates. Prior research suggests that option grant cost estimates are not materially different when calculated a using utility-based model or a risk-neutral model...

This paper theoretically and empirically shows that, when investors are uncertain about how precise is the signal they receive, their beliefs may further diverge after they receive the same piece of information. We test this prediction using trading volume around quarterly earnings announcements...