We use the ethnicity of CEOs across 31 countries as a proxy for their common inherited beliefs and values and find an ethnicity effect in CEO variable pay. We find that the ethnicity effect in variable pay is not driven by the ethnicity effects in corporate policy decisions, and that changes in...

We examine the determinants and outcomes of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) accepting a $1 salary, a compensation practice that occurs relatively frequently in high-profile firms and is debated by regulators, investors, and the media. Using a hand-collected sample of 93 CEOs from 91 firms...

This paper examines the consequences of the increased use of performance vesting provisions in long-term incentive compensation for CEOs and other executives in the post-2006 period following FAS 123R. We re-examine the agency prediction that incentives provided by accounting or other...

We document that backfilling in the ExecuComp database introduces a data-conditioning bias that can affect inferences and make replication of previous work difficult. Although backfilling can be advantageous due to greater data coverage, if not addressed the over-sampling of firms with strong...

We present a general-equilibrium theory of contracting in which managers are concerned about their social standing in a closely interacted circle of executives. Managerial effort in scrutinizing and implementing investment opportunities, which expose firm value to aggregate risk, can help them...

Motivated by the dual agency environment in founding family firms, we examine how family firms provide compensation incentives to nonfamily executives. Nonfamily executives receive weaker risk-taking incentives and pay-for-performance incentives when family ownership is high and when family...

We examine the determinants and outcomes of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) accepting a $1 salary, a compensation practice that occurs relatively frequently in high-profile firms and is debated by regulators, investors, and the media. Using a hand-collected sample of 93 CEOs from 91 firms...

In the wake of the backdating scandal, many firms began awarding options at scheduled times each year. Scheduling option grants eliminates backdating, but creates other agency problems. CEOs that know the dates of upcoming scheduled option grants have an incentive to temporarily depress stock...

We examine the distinct effects of generalist-specialist versus insider-outsider attributes on Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation patterns. Our cross-sectional results show that each attribute has a significant impact on both the level and structure of CEO compensation. CEOs with a high...

The paper finds evidence that the equity-based compensation is positively related to firm performance and risk-taking. Both stock price and operating performance as well as firm's risk-taking increase with incentives provided by CEO stock options and stock holdings. The pay-performance...