Purpose: The corporate finance literature has largely treated individual managers as uniform entities, leaving unexplained the large heterogeneity in corporate practices. The authors explore whether educational background attributes, such as a bachelor's degree from an elite institution and the...

Purpose Historically, most CEOs were promoted from within the organization. The internal candidates offer continuity, are well known to the Board, and have deep institutional knowledge. However, if the Board is seeking changes to the firm’s strategy, operations, or culture, they turn to...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate executive compensation in the finance sector during the periods surrounding the crisis with a view to determining whether compensation incentives were associated with excessive risk taking. Design/methodology/approach The authors compare...