The arm's length principle states that the transfer price between two associated enterprises should be the price that would be paid for similar goods in similar circumstances by unrelated parties dealing at arm's length with each other. This paper examines the effect of the arm's length...

The arm’s length principle states that the transfer price between two associated enterprises should be the price that would be paid for similar goods in similar circumstances by unrelated parties dealing at arm’s length with each other. This paper examines the effect of the arm’s length...

In a typical corporate hierarchy, the manager is delegated the authority to make decisions that set directions for the organization, employ subordinates and contract with external suppliers. This paper explains when such delegation of authority can be optimal, using a model of a firm with three...

Using a simple three-period model in which a manager can gather information before making an investment decision, this paper studies incentive effects of various executive stock options. In particular, we show how the exercise price of executive stock options is related to base salary, the size...

While many existing studies report that corporate diversification destroys shareholder value, two recent studies challenge these findings. Schoar (2002) finds that plants in conglomerates are more productive than those in comparable single-segment firms, although conglomerates are traded at...

This paper studies optimal managerial contracts in two contracting environments. When contracts can be based on the return from the investment, an optimal contract is interpreted as a combination of base salary, golden parachute and bonus. When the return is not verifiable, two types of optimal...

This paper studies how an optimal wage contract can be implemented using stock options, and derives the properties of the optimal contract with stock options. Specifically, we show how the exercise price and the size of the option grant should change in response to changes in exogenous...