Whether executive compensation practices reflect optimal contracting or managerial power is one of the most fundamental and controversial topics in compensation and governance research. We shed light on this central issue by being the first to study the role of independent directors in adjusting...

We find a negative relation between hedge fund manager’s personal income tax rates and fund performance. Using changes in tax deferral regulation or state-level tax rates suggest causality in the tax-performance relation. Managers are less likely to hold stocks with greater information...

We provide a theory of how growth, corruption, and a low-powered public-sector pay scale coexist in a stable equilibrium in the early stage of China's development. The regionally decentralized authoritarian regime of China features lower-level government officials competing for promotion to a...