Are firms' financial disclosure decisions affected by executive compensation at other firms? We find that a CEO's pay gap relative to the highest CEO pay among industry peers, defined as industry tournament incentives, can lead to distortions in corporate financial disclosures. Our analyses show...

In the 1995-2004 period, 48% of U.S. households owned stock assets, 11% owned private business assets, and 18% owned investment real estate other than a primary residence. These risky, high return investment assets accounted for 45% of household assets in the aggregate, even though 44% of...