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Uncertainty, investment, and managerial incentives

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  • Glover, Brent
  • Levine, Oliver

Abstract

This study provides evidence that managerial incentives, shaped by compensation contracts, help to explain the empirical relationship between uncertainty and investment. We develop a model in which the manager, compensated with an equity-based contract, makes investment decisions for a firm that faces time-varying volatility. The contract creates incentives that affect both the sign and magnitude of a manager׳s optimal response to volatility shocks. The model is calibrated using compensation data to quantify this predicted investment response for a large panel of firms. Our estimates help explain the variation in firm-level investment responses to volatility shocks observed in the data.

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  • Glover, Brent & Levine, Oliver, 2015. "Uncertainty, investment, and managerial incentives," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 121-137.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:moneco:v:69:y:2015:i:c:p:121-137
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2014.11.004
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    14. Claudiu Tiberiu Albulescu & Şerban Miclea & Simina Silvana Suciu & Matei Tămăşilă, 2018. "Firm-level investment in the extractive industry from CEE countries: the role of macroeconomic uncertainty and internal conditions," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 8(2), pages 193-208, June.
    15. Cui, Xue & Shibata, Takashi, 2017. "Investment strategies, reversibility, and asymmetric information," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 263(3), pages 1109-1122.
    16. Bańbura, Marta & Albani, Maria & Ambrocio, Gene & Bursian, Dirk & Buss, Ginters & de Winter, Jasper & Gavura, Miroslav & Giordano, Claire & Júlio, Paulo & Le Roux, Julien & Lozej, Matija & Malthe-Thag, 2018. "Business investment in EU countries," Occasional Paper Series 215, European Central Bank.
    17. N Aaron Pancost & Roberto Robatto, 2023. "The Effects of Capital Requirements on Good and Bad Risk-Taking," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 36(2), pages 733-774.
    18. Chortareas, Georgios & Noikokyris, Emmanouil & Rakeeb, Fathima Roshan, 2021. "Investment, firm-specific uncertainty, and market power in South Africa," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 389-395.
    19. Murat Alp Celik & Xu Tian, 2023. "Agency Frictions, Managerial Compensation, and Disruptive Innovations," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 51, pages 16-38, December.
    20. Glover, Brent & Levine, Oliver, 2017. "Idiosyncratic risk and the manager," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 320-341.
    21. Caixe, Daniel Ferreira & Kalatzis, Aquiles Elie Guimarães & Castro, Luiz Ricardo Kabbach de, 2019. "Controlling shareholders and investment-risk sensitivity in an emerging economy," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 133-153.
    22. Rajdeep Chakraborti & Sandeep Dahiya & Lei Ge & Pedro Gete, 2022. "Credit Stimulus, Executive Ownership, and Firm Leverage," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7682-7700, October.
    23. Caixe, Daniel Ferreira, 2022. "Corporate governance and investment sensitivity to policy uncertainty in Brazil," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PB).
    24. Huang, Jiexiang & Roberts, Helen & Tan, Eric K.M., 2024. "Media uncertainty and risk-taking," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    25. Deng, Binbin, 2016. "A Simple Model of Managerial Incentives and Portfolio-Investment Decision," MPRA Paper 79959, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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