We show that firms' investment opportunity sets (IOS) are multidimensional. Analyzing Form 10-K texts, we identify 445 unique keywords that predict firms' future investments during 1995-2009 and combine them into 43 underlying factors. Industry-specific factors include Bio-Pharma, Banking,...

We examine the relation between R&D intensity and the weights on ability indicators and financial performance measures in CEO compensation. The CEO’s technology-related ability is likely more important in R&D intensive firms. Therefore, we predict that these firms place higher weights on...

Our study compiled the largest research sample on the gender gap in compensation at the 200 largest law firms by combining two large databases to examine why women partners are compensated less: because they are less productive than men partners or because they are women. The AmLaw 100 and 200...

This paper analyzes the tradeoffs associated with relying on performance versus ability measures in executive compensation. We propose a principal-agent model in which the principal designs the compensation scheme to be contingent on the outcome of interest to the principal along with a noisy...

This paper proposes an agency model with moral hazard and adverse selection of the relationship between a university and its president, and constructs a unique dataset to examine the determinants of the compensation of university presidents. In our model, the outcome of interest to the...

This paper examines the role of multiple measures of performance in a principal-agent model incorporating both moral hazard and adverse selection. The outcome of interest to the principal depends stochastically on the agent’s unobservable ability and effort, while the principal implements a...

Sales decreases affect earnings more than sales increases because of cost stickiness. We hypothesize that this correlated omitted variable constitutes a confounding effect in standard asymmetric timeliness models. Adding sales change direction to the Basu (1997) and Ball et al. (2013b) models...

We examine the relation between demand uncertainty and firms' production outsourcing decisions. Contrary to the traditional view on make-or-buy decisions in management accounting textbooks, we predict that demand uncertainty deters outsourcing by a manufacturer from a supplier. Building on...

In this study, we follow the strategy typology proposed by Treacy and Wiersema (1995) and develop a textual measure of firms’ generic strategy along three dimensions: product leadership, customer intimacy, and operational excellence. Product-leadership firms emphasize innovation and confront...

We re-examine the question why large positive and large negative book-tax differences (LPBTDs and LNBTDs) are associated with lower earnings persistence (Hanlon, 2005). Specifically, we investigate whether lower earnings persistence of LPBTD firms and LNBTD firms, relative to firms in the middle...