Influenced by their compensation plans, CEOs make their own luck through decisions that affect future firm risk. After adopting a relative performance evaluation (RPE) plan, total and idiosyncratic risk are higher, and the correlation between firm and industry performance is lower. The opposite...

Executives are often paid for short-term changes in shareholder wealth, but rational shareholders want executives to maximize long-term shareholder wealth. Incentives for short-term and long-term oriented behavior may depend on an executive's level of pay in the distribution, holding other...

The paper finds evidence that the equity-based compensation is positively related to firm performance and risk-taking. Both stock price and operating performance as well as firm's risk-taking increase with incentives provided by CEO stock options and stock holdings. The pay-performance...