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CEO wage dynamics: Estimates from a learning model

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  • Taylor, Lucian A.

Abstract

The level of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) pay responds asymmetrically to good and bad news about the CEO's ability. The average CEO captures approximately half of the surpluses from good news, implying CEOs and shareholders have roughly equal bargaining power. In contrast, the average CEO bears none of the negative surplus from bad news, implying CEOs have downward rigid pay. These estimates are consistent with the optimal contracting benchmark of Harris and Hölmstrom (1982) and do not appear to be driven by weak governance. Risk-averse CEOs accept significantly lower compensation in return for the insurance provided by downward rigid pay.

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  • Taylor, Lucian A., 2013. "CEO wage dynamics: Estimates from a learning model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 79-98.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:108:y:2013:i:1:p:79-98
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2012.11.008
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    Cited by:

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    6. Hermalin, Benjamin E. & Weisbach, Michael S., 2014. "Understanding Corporate Governance through Learning Models of Managerial Competence," Working Paper Series 2014-04, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    7. Erwan Morellec & Boris Nikolov & Norman Schürhoff, 2018. "Agency Conflicts around the World," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(11), pages 4232-4287.
    8. Wang, Wenyu, 2018. "Bid anticipation, information revelation, and merger gains," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(2), pages 320-343.
    9. Stanimir Morfov & Manuel Santos, 2017. "A Model of Managerial Talent: Addressing Some Puzzles in CEO Compensation," Working Papers 2017-03, University of Miami, Department of Economics.
    10. Alex Edmans & Xavier Gabaix, 2016. "Executive Compensation: A Modern Primer," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(4), pages 1232-1287, December.
    11. Nikolov, Boris & Schmid, Lukas & Steri, Roberto, 2019. "Dynamic corporate liquidity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 76-102.
    12. Bang Dang Nguyen & Kasper Meisner Nielsen, 2014. "What Death Can Tell: Are Executives Paid for Their Contributions to Firm Value?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(12), pages 2994-3010, December.
    13. Cameron Fen, 2022. "Fast Simulation-Based Bayesian Estimation of Heterogeneous and Representative Agent Models using Normalizing Flow Neural Networks," Papers 2203.06537, arXiv.org.
    14. Balasubramanian, Bala N. & Barua, Samir K. & Karthik, D., 2015. "Influence of Board Diversity and Characteristics on CEO Compensation: Contingent Effects of Concentrated Ownership," IIMA Working Papers WP2015-03-37, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    15. Glover, Brent & Levine, Oliver, 2017. "Idiosyncratic risk and the manager," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 320-341.
    16. Pierre Chaigneau & Nicolas Sahuguet, 2014. "Explaining the Association between Monitoring and Controversial CEO Pay Practices: an Optimal Contracting Perspective," Cahiers de recherche 1406, CIRPEE.
    17. Frydman, Carola & Papanikolaou, Dimitris, 2018. "In search of ideas: Technological innovation and executive pay inequality," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 1-24.
    18. Bakke, Tor-Erik & Gu, Tiantian, 2017. "Diversification and cash dynamics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 580-601.
    19. Jung, Hae Won (Henny) & Subramanian, Ajay, 2017. "CEO talent, CEO compensation, and product market competition," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 48-71.
    20. Page, T. Beau, 2018. "CEO attributes, compensation, and firm value: Evidence from a structural estimation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(2), pages 378-401.
    21. Chaigneau, Pierre & Sahuguet, Nicolas, 2013. "The effect of monitoring on CEO pay practices in a matching equilibrium," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 55405, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    22. Gian Luca Clementi & Thomas Cooley, 2023. "CEO Compensation: Facts," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 50, pages 6-27, October.
    23. Wang, Wenyu & Wu, Yufeng, 2020. "Managerial control benefits and takeover market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(3), pages 857-878.
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    25. Daniel Ferreira & Radoslawa Nikolowa, 2015. "Misallocation of Talent in Competitive Labor Markets," Working Papers 740, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    CEO; Compensation; Learning; Dynamics; Bargaining; SMM;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts

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