It is often argued that Black-Scholes (1973) values overstate the subjective value of stock options granted to risk-averse and under-diversified executives. We construct a "representative" Swiss executive and extend the certainty- equivalence approach presented by Hall and Murphy (2002) to...

This paper examines the incentives from stock options for loss-averse employees subject to probability weighting. Employing the certainty equivalence principle, I built on insights from Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT) to derive a continuous time model to value options from the perspective of a...

This paper examines the incentives from stock options for loss-averse employees subject to probability weighting. Employing the certainty equivalence principle, I built on insights from Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT) to derive a continuous time model to value options from the perspective of a...

Traditional stock option grant is the most common form of incentive pay in executive compensation. Applying a principal-agent analysis, we find this common practice suboptimal and firms are better off linking incentive pay to average stock prices. Among other benefits, averaging reduces...

This paper develops a new pricing model for American-style indexed executive stock options. We rely on a basic model framework and an indexation scheme first proposed by Johnson and Tian (2000a) in their analysis of European-style indexed options. Our derivation of the valuation formula...

We integrate an agency problem into search theory to study executive compensation in a market equilibrium. A CEO can choose to stay or quit and search after privately observing an idiosyncratic shock to the firm. The market equilibrium endogenizes CEOs' and firms' outside options and captures...

The ability of standard executive stock options to incite managers to adequately select the assets of their firm has been extensively questioned by academics and practitioners. However, very few alternatives exist or have been proposed to better control the investment strategies of top managers....

We analyze the American option valuation problem with the forward performance criterion introduced by Musiela and Zariphopoulou (2008). In this framework, utility evolves forward in time without reference to a specific future time horizon. Moreover, risk preferences change with stochastic market...

We contribute to the previous literature on the use of derivatives by studying separately the determinants for profit seeking versus hedging in a sample of firms from four different Nordic countries. While the hedging motive clearly dominates, more than half of the firms in our sample give some...

Labor market analysis shows the employee stock option (ESO) is a delayed-payment contract in which the option is exchanged for labor services. Under this delayed-payment approach, the ESO is modeled as an installment option, where the installment premiums are wage concessions determined under an...