Using data that includes specific contractual details of Relative Performance Evaluation (RPE) contracts granted to executives for 1,833 firms for the period 1998 to 2012, we develop new methods to characterize RPE awards and measure their value and incentive properties. The frequency in the use...

Recent regulation and legislation, along with the growing influence of compensation consultants and proxy advisors, have led to an increase in performance-contingent awards. A majority of these awards contain performance conditions tied explicitly to accounting measures. Both the structure of...

Of late, both U.S. and International firms have increased the granting of performance-contingent equity awards to their executive officers. Beyond simple stock options, these awards frequently include accounting-based performance targets. Failure to meet or exceed these targets causes award...

We consider retail prices and efficiency gains from wholesale trading in both regulated and competitive power markets. Wholesale power trading facilitates risk sharing, so that the minimally-required retail price decreases for all producers. A portion of the efficiency gains can be captured by...

We find that the demand for stock option positions that increase exposure to the underlying is positively related to measures of investor sentiment and past market returns, while the demand for index options is invariant to these factors. These differences in trading patterns are reflected in...