This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Executive Compensation: Six Questions that Need Answering

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
John M. Abowd
David S. Kaplan

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

In this article, we focus on how recent research advances can be used to address the following six questions: (1) How much does executive compensation cost the firm? (2) How much is executive compensation worth to the recipient? (3) How well does executive compensation work? (4) What are the effects of executive compensation? (5) How much executive compensation is enough? (6) Could executive compensation be improved? We stress the formal link between executive pay and performance that is provided by stock options and equivalent forms of long term compensation. We compare executive compensation in 12 OECD countries for the period from 1984-1996. There are good reasons why the answers to the first two questions are different. Executive compensation research should be very careful to distinguish the concepts of employer cost and the value to the executive. Agency theory remains the only viable candidate for answering the question about how executive compensation works but the empirical research to date cannot explain very much about the structure of the optimal contract. For this reason, it is also hard to answer the questions about the effects of executive compensation and the adequacy of the amounts of executive compensation, although it is clear that companies can provide both too little and too much contingent compensation, in the context of agency theory. We suggest two fertile areas for research regarding the improvement of executive compensation.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w7124.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Publisher Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 7124.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML, plain text, BibTeX, RIS (EndNote), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: May 1999
Date of revision:
Publication status: published as Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 13, no. 4 (Fall 1999): 145-168.
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7124

Note: LS
Contact details of provider:
Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Phone: 617-868-3900
Email:
Web page: http://www.nber.org
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().

Related research
Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Rajesh Aggarwal & Andrew A. Samwick, 1996. "Executive Compensation, Strategic Competition, and Relative Performance Evaluation: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 5648, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Brian J. Hall & Jeffrey B. Liebman, 1998. "Are CEOs Really Paid Like Bureaucrats?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(3), pages 653-691, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Masson, Robert Tempest, 1971. "Executive Motivations, Earnings, and Consequent Equity Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(6), pages 1278-92, Nov.-Dec.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Barro, Jason R & Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Pay, Performance, and Turnover of Bank CEOs," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(4), pages 448-81, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Holthausen, Robert W. & Larcker, David F. & Sloan, Richard G., 1995. "Annual bonus schemes and the manipulation of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 29-74, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Rajesh K. Aggarwal & Andrew A. Samwick, 1999. "The Other Side of the Trade-off: The Impact of Risk on Executive Compensation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(1), pages 65-105, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Dial, Jay & Murphy, Kevin J., 1995. "Incentives, downsizing, and value creation at General Dynamics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 261-314, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Murphy, Kevin J., 1985. "Corporate performance and managerial remuneration : An empirical analysis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 11-42, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Cuny, Charles J. & Jorion, Philippe, 1995. "Valuing executive stock options with endogenous departure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 193-205, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Ciscel, David H & Carroll, Thomas M, 1980. "The Determinants of Executive Salaries: An Econometric Survey," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 62(1), pages 7-13, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Kaplan, Steven N, 1994. "Top Executive Rewards and Firm Performance: A Comparison of Japan and the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(3), pages 510-46, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Lawrence M. Kahn & Peter D. Sherer, 1990. "Contingent pay and managerial performance," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 43(3), pages 107-120, February.
  13. Hallock, Kevin F, 1998. "Layoffs, Top Executive Pay, and Firm Performance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(4), pages 711-23, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. John R. Deckop, 1988. "Determinants of chief executive officer compensation," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 41(2), pages 215-226, January.
  15. Larcker, David F., 1983. "The association between performance plan adoption and corporate capital investment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5, pages 3-30, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Healy, Paul M., 1985. "The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 85-107, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron S, 1973. "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 637-54, May-June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Garen, John E, 1994. "Executive Compensation and Principal-Agent Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(6), pages 1175-99, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Robert Gibbons & Kevin J. Murphy, 1990. "Relative performance evaluation for chief executive officers," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 43(3), pages 30-51, February.
  20. Jonathan S. Leonard, 1990. "Executive pay and firm performance," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 43(3), pages 13-29, February.
  21. Coughlan, Anne T. & Schmidt, Ronald M., 1985. "Executive compensation, management turnover, and firm performance : An empirical investigation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 43-66, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Tehranian, Hassan & Waegelein, James F., 1985. "Market reaction to short-term executive compensation plan adoption," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 131-144, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Jensen, Michael C & Murphy, Kevin J, 1990. "Performance Pay and Top-Management Incentives," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(2), pages 225-64, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  24. Gibbons, R. & Murphy, K.J., 1989. "Relative Performance Evaluation For Chief Executive Officers," Working papers 532, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Brian J. Hall & Kevin J. Murphy, 2000. "Stock Options for Undiversified Executives," NBER Working Papers 8052, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Patrick Bolton & Marco Becht & Alisa Roell, 2002. "Corporate Governance and Control," NBER Working Papers 9371, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Giannetti, Mariassunta, 2007. "Serial CEO Incentives and the Structure of Managerial Contracts," CEPR Discussion Papers 6422, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Katsuyuki Kubo, 2001. "Changes in Directors' Incentive Plans and the Performance of Firms in the UK," CEI Working Paper Series 2001-3, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. [Downloadable!]
  5. CASAMATTA, Catherine & GUEMBEL, Alexander, 2007. "Managerial Legacies, Entrenchment and Strategic Inertia," IDEI Working Papers 442, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse. [Downloadable!]
  6. Marco Celentani & Rosa Loveira-Pazó, 2004. "What Form of Relative Performance Evaluation?," Economics Working Papers 744, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
  7. Robert Grams, . "Behavioral and Performance Consequences of U.S. Executive Equity Compensation and Ownership," Working Papers 0803, Industrial Relations Center, University of Minnesota (Twin Cities Campus). [Downloadable!]
  8. Matthias Benz & Marcel Kucher & Alois Stutzer, . "Are Stock Options the Managers' Blessing? Stock Option Compensation and Institutional Controls," IEW - Working Papers iewwp061, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  9. Bouwens, J.F.M.G. & Lent, L.A.G.M. van, 2003. "Effort and selection effects of incentive contracts," Discussion Paper 130, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  10. Peter Christoffersen & Andrey Pavlov, 2003. "Company Flexibility, the Value of Management and Managerial Compensation," CIRANO Working Papers 2003s-06, CIRANO. [Downloadable!]
  11. Bradford Cornell, 2002. "Compensation and Recruiting: Private Universities versus Private Corporations," University of California at Los Angeles, Anderson Graduate School of Management 1042, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA. [Downloadable!]
  12. Chiaki Moriguchi & Emmanuel Saez, 2006. "The Evolution of Income Concentration in Japan, 1886-2002: Evidence from Income Tax Statistics," NBER Working Papers 12558, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Brian J. Hall & Thomas A. Knox, 2002. "Managing Option Fragility," NBER Working Papers 9059, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. François Larmande & Jean-Pierre Ponssard, 2004. "EVA and the Controllability-congruence Trade-off: An Empirical Investigation," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
  15. Olivia S. Mitchell & Stephen P. Utkus, 2002. "The Role of Company Stock in Defined Contribution Plans," NBER Working Papers 9250, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. François Larmande & Jean-Pierre Ponssard, 2007. "The lack of controllability of EVA explains its decline a field study," Post-Print hal-00243065_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? There are NEP reports in over 80 fields that deliver new research to your email.

This page was last updated on 2008-10-10.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.