Executive compensation has undergone a radical shift in the United States over the last two decades, from a cash-based system to a stock-based system. This shift, which was intended to improve firm performance, is often said to have two major shortcomings: it drives managers to engage in...

The financial crisis that began in the United States in 2007 and spread into a deep worldwide recession focused attention on agency costs in leveraged firms. Particular attention was given to the incentives of shareholders in such firms to overinvest (known as the "risk-shifting" problem) or...

Executive stock options are a dominant component of managers pay in the United States. This common compensation feature entails two perverse side effects: driving managers to engage in manipulative practices, and generating excessive risk-taking. Tellingly, some scholars blame the first side...