Each May, Forbes magazine publishes a study on tax misery. The Forbes Tax Misery Index is a proxy for evaluating whether tax policy attracts or repels capital and talent. It is computed by adding the top marginal tax rate for the corporate income tax, individual income tax, wealth tax,...

In this paper I exploit a unique feature of the Greek institutional environment, whereby alternative cash compensation payments to directors are taxed differently from the point of view of both personal and corporate taxes. Specifically, board directors can receive cash compensation either in...

Companies grant compensatory option awards to provide retention and long term value creation incentives, aligning long term interests of shareholders and managers. The options issued by publicly traded companies in the US tend to be similar in design. Generally, the options are issued pursuant...

This study explores the effects of financial and tax reporting incentives on options granted to chief executive officers in Canada. Extant studies with a similar purpose (Yermack, 1995, and Matsunaga, 1995) explore predominantly non-qualified U.S. option grants that are deductible to the extent...

We examine firms' willingness to forfeit tax deductions in response to Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m). Using a sample of firms over the five-year period subsequent to the effective date of Section 162(m), we find firms forfeit deductions in almost 40 percent of firm-year observations....

We present the derivation of cost of capital under the assumption of risky tax shields discounted with the cost of levered equity. We show that the formulation is consistent and is derived from basic financial principles. This formulation is valid for finite cash flows and non growing...

We examine the potential confounding effects that awarding outside directors stock options may have on the quality of financial disclosure. By aligning their interests with those of shareholders, directors should be more inclined to monitor and disclose relevant information to investors....

Union pension funds manage approximately $3.5 trillion in retirement assets on behalf of public and private sector employees covered by collective bargaining agreement. They are also very active in the proxy process, sponsoring approximately one-third of the shareholder proposals that are...

Corporate monitors are important participants in corporate governance systems. Monitors include the board of directors, the general counsel, and internal and external auditors. Monitors are paid by the organization but their responsibilities largely or mostly non-managerial.How should monitors...

This monograph presents existing and new research on three approaches to multiagent incentives: simpler mechanisms, robust mechanisms, and implicit contracts. The goal of all three approaches is to find theories that better explain observed institutions than the standard approach has