This paper analyzes how board independence affects a board's monitoring intensity and the CEO pay disparity. We consider a corporate tournament model with a novel feature that the board of directors may lack independence. This has significant implications for a board's monitoring and rewarding...

This paper analyzes the optimal production and hedging decisions of a competitive firm holding optimism and pessimism under price ambiguity. We show that the separation theorem remains intact as the firm's optimal output level depends neither on the output price distribution nor on the firm's...

This paper analyzes the production and hedging decisions of a competitive firm under price uncertainty and time-inconsistent preferences. We show that the firm would over-hedge and the output choice would be affected by the firm's preferences and the price distribution, thereby identifying a...

This paper studies the interplay between firm investment and cash flow hedging decisions when the decision-maker has time-inconsistent preferences. We show that cash flow hedging acts as a double-edged sword. In some cases, cash flow hedging enhances firm value because the firm can thus invest...

How does product market competition influence whether CEOs with greater or lower levels of overconfidence are hired and whether CEOs overinvest in innovation? In a Cournot model in which firms hire a CEO to take charge of research and development (R&D) investment and production decisions, this...

In the wake of recent financial crises and corporate failures, chief executive officers (CEOs) are often blamed for their overconfidence leading to earnings manipulation and excessive risks. Why is it then that these overconfident CEOs obtain job offers in the first place? This paper presents a...

Using U.S. states' staggered enactment of majority voting legislation (MVL) as plausibly negative exogenous shocks to director job security, we find an increase in the unconditional likelihood of forced CEO turnover and the sensitivity of forced CEO turnover to firm performance following its...

We investigate whether firms risk-shift via corporate pension plans in response to distress risk induced through economic policy uncertainty (EPU). Using a sample of US-listed firms, we find that firms increase pension underfunding levels when facing higher EPU. Cross-sectional analysis shows...

Motivated by psychological evidence that self-esteem plays an important role in individual decision-making, this paper studies how self-esteem concerns influence a manager's effort choice and hedging behavior and how a board designs the managerial compensation in response. We show that when the...

This paper analyzes how CEO turnover affects successive CEOs' financial reporting decisions and the capital market price. I show that when an outgoing CEO (O) in period 1 is succeeded by an incoming CEO (N) in period 2, strategic interaction between O and N leads to interlinked earnings reports....