We study how competition for talent affects CEO compensation, taking into consideration that CEO decisions and CEO skills or talent are not observable, and CEOs can manipulate performance as measured by outsiders. Firms compete by offering contracts that generate rents for the CEO. We derive the...

Empirical evidence suggests that firms often manipulate reported numbers to avoid debtcovenant violations. We study how a firm's ability to manipulate reports affects the terms ofits debt contracts and the resulting investment and manipulation decisions that the firm implements.Our model...