While executive compensation is often blamed for the excessive risk taking by banks, little is known about the operating performance incentives used in the finance industry both prior to and subsequent to the recent crisis. We provide a comprehensive analysis of incentive design -- the link of...

This paper investigates the relationship between female CEOs and insolvency risk of U.S. property-casualty insurance companies. We show that female CEOs are associated with lower insurer insolvency propensity, higher z-score, and lower standard deviation of return on assets. These findings are...

This paper investigates the impact of managerial compensation on the likelihood of covenant violations and reports that higher CEO risk-shifting incentives significantly increase the likelihood of covenant violations. Evidence suggests that CEOs with creditor unfriendly compensation in leveraged...

Consistent with the incentive implication of inside debt, I show that active equity mutual funds invest less in companies whose CEOs are awarded with higher debt-like compensation, whereas corporate bond mutual funds invest more in such companies. This finding persists after accounting for...

Spanish savings banks (Cajas) and commercial banks have experienced very different destinies. Before the crisis both types of banks shared, almost equally, most of the financial Spanish market. Cajas were performing well. Nowadays, the soundest Cajas have been forced to transform themselves into...

In this study, we examine whether the initiation of credit default swaps affects the reference entity's executive compensation design. With both human capital and financial capital highly associated with the firm's bankruptcy risk, risk averse managers prefer cash compensation over option...

This paper studies whether banks charge higher or lower interest rates on loans to firms with overconfident CEOs. It establishes a theoretical model to show the relationship between the loan rate and overconfidence of the borrowing firm's CEO. It also conducts empirical analyses to test the...

This paper studies whether banks charge higher or lower interest rates on loans to firms with overconfident CEOs. It establishes a theoretical model to show the relationship between the loan rate and overconfidence of the borrowing firm's CEO. It also conducts empirical analyses to test the...

Managerial compensation theory proposes that both equity- and debt-type compensation should be included in the optimal compensation contract in order to align managers' interests with those of both shareholders and debtholders of the firm. However, this reasoning also suggests that the two forms...

The founding directors of newly incorporated companies bring social capital (reputation, networks, business relationships) and human capital (task-related, professional and director experience) to a new venture and founding boards vary in degree of heterogeneity (size, diversity, turnover). This...