We examine the implications of regulatory intervention in pay-setting, by studying whether executive compensation restrictions associated with the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) influence banks' participation in the program. We find that banks more likely to be impacted by the restrictions...

Option grant vesting terms are a contractual provision that is shaped by accounting standards and other economic factors. We examine the effect of accounting standards, specifically SFAS 123(R), on the vesting terms of stock option grants while also modeling other economic determinants of this...

Option grant vesting terms are a contractual provision that is shaped by accounting standards and other economic factors. We examine the effect of accounting standards, specifically SFAS 123(R), on the vesting terms of stock option grants while also modeling other economic determinants of this...

Contingent considerations (“earnouts”) in acquisition agreements provide sellers with future payments conditional on meeting certain conditions. Prior research provides evidence that acquiring firms use earnouts to minimize agency costs associated with acquisitions. Using earnout fair value...

This paper empirically investigates the influence of executive wealth diversification on firm equity granting patterns. Risk-averse, undiversified executives that hold substantial amounts of wealth in the firm, discount the value of their equity holdings, which increases costly risk-sharing and...

We examine how adverse selection problems when hiring new external CEOs affect contractual features of inducement grants. Focusing on the sensitivity of inducement grants to the new CEO announcement return ($Sensitivity), we find that firms provide inducement grants that are more sensitive to...

There are several measures of equity compensation that may provide shareholders with distinct and useful information for evaluating CEO pay. We examine whether shareholders consider additional disclosures of equity compensation measures beyond the grant date fair value when participating in...

We investigate how firm cost structure influences the information environment by studying the relation between the degree of operating leverage, earnings properties, and the usefulness of earnings to shareholders. Because the degree of operating leverage increases the impact of the incremental...

We investigate the relation between investor horizon and disclosure policy. We develop and analyze a rational expectations model where the original investors commit to a disclosure policy. Counter to casual intuition, short-horizon investors prefer more disclosure and are willing to bear costs...