IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pacfin/v74y2022ics0927538x22001184.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Paying for pollution: Air quality and executive compensation

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Zhenyi
  • Leng, Tiecheng
  • Pan, Luyao
  • Wang, Xiaoming

Abstract

Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increased severity of physical and mental illnesses. This study examines whether and to what extent air pollution affects executive compensation in Chinese listed firms. We document a significant and positive association between air pollution and executive compensation, indicating that firms located in more polluted areas have to pay a higher wage premium to their executives in order to compensate for unpleasant air quality. Cross-sectional analyses further reveal that the pay premium for air pollution depends on managerial labor market competition, substitution of other livability factors, as well as public attention on air pollution. The evidence thus highlights the importance of information completeness in optimal contracting and provides firms another market-oriented incentive to closely follow the current environmental protection regulation of China.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Zhenyi & Leng, Tiecheng & Pan, Luyao & Wang, Xiaoming, 2022. "Paying for pollution: Air quality and executive compensation," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:74:y:2022:i:c:s0927538x22001184
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2022.101823
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X22001184
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.pacfin.2022.101823?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hanna, Rema & Oliva, Paulina, 2015. "The effect of pollution on labor supply: Evidence from a natural experiment in Mexico City," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 68-79.
    2. Levinson, Arik, 2012. "Valuing public goods using happiness data: The case of air quality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 869-880.
    3. Kenneth Y. Chay & Michael Greenstone, 2003. "The Impact of Air Pollution on Infant Mortality: Evidence from Geographic Variation in Pollution Shocks Induced by a Recession," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 1121-1167.
    4. Kato, Takao & Long, Cheryl, 2006. "Executive Compensation, Firm Performance, and Corporate Governance in China: Evidence from Firms Listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(4), pages 945-983, July.
    5. 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.
    6. Zhidong Tan & Jianhua Tan & Kam C. Chan, 2021. "Seeing is believing? The impact of air pollution on corporate social responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 525-534, January.
    7. Joshua Graff Zivin & Matthew Neidell, 2012. "The Impact of Pollution on Worker Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3652-3673, December.
    8. Richard T. Carson, 2010. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve: Seeking Empirical Regularity and Theoretical Structure," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(1), pages 3-23, Winter.
    9. Conyon, Martin J. & He, Lerong, 2011. "Executive compensation and corporate governance in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 1158-1175, September.
    10. Yu Qin & Hongjia Zhu, 2018. "Run away? Air pollution and emigration interests in China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 235-266, January.
    11. Core, John & Guay, Wayne, 1999. "The use of equity grants to manage optimal equity incentive levels," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 151-184, December.
    12. Aragón, Fernando M. & Miranda, Juan Jose & Oliva, Paulina, 2017. "Particulate matter and labor supply: The role of caregiving and non-linearities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 295-309.
    13. Wang, Li & Dai, Yunhao & Kong, Dongmin, 2021. "Air pollution and employee treatment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    14. Li, Chao Kevin & Luo, Jin-hui & Soderstrom, Naomi S., 2020. "Air pollution and analyst information production," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    15. Gilberto Loureiro & Alvaro G. Taboada, 2015. "Do Improvements in the Information Environment Enhance Insiders’ Ability to Learn from Outsiders?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 863-905, September.
    16. Ambrey, Christopher L. & Fleming, Christopher M. & Chan, Andrew Yiu-Chung, 2014. "Estimating the cost of air pollution in South East Queensland: An application of the life satisfaction non-market valuation approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 172-181.
    17. Firth, Michael & Fung, Peter M.Y. & Rui, Oliver M., 2006. "Corporate performance and CEO compensation in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 693-714, September.
    18. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    19. Kalpathy, Swaminathan, 2009. "Stock Option Repricing and Its Alternatives: An Empirical Examination," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(6), pages 1459-1487, December.
    20. Dong, Rui & Fisman, Raymond & Wang, Yongxiang & Xu, Nianhang, 2021. "Air pollution, affect, and forecasting bias: Evidence from Chinese financial analysts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(3), pages 971-984.
    21. Campbell, Katherine & Johnston, Derek & Sefcik, Stephan E. & Soderstrom, Naomi S., 2007. "Executive compensation and non-financial risk: An empirical examination," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 436-462.
    22. Xue, Shuyu & Zhang, Bohui & Zhao, Xiaofeng, 2021. "Brain drain: The impact of air pollution on firm performance," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    23. Chen, Shuai & Oliva, Paulina & Zhang, Peng, 2022. "The effect of air pollution on migration: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    24. 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.
    25. Gao, Huasheng & Luo, Juan & Tang, Tilan, 2015. "Effects of managerial labor market on executive compensation: Evidence from job-hopping," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 203-220.
    26. Ye Cai & Hoje Jo & Carrie Pan, 2011. "Vice or Virtue? The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Executive Compensation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(2), pages 159-173, December.
    27. Deng, Xin & Gao, Huasheng, 2013. "Nonmonetary Benefits, Quality of Life, and Executive Compensation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(1), pages 197-218, February.
    28. Cao, Jerry & Pan, Xiaofei & Tian, Gary, 2011. "Disproportional ownership structure and pay-performance relationship: Evidence from China's listed firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 541-554, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bedford, Anna & Bugeja, Martin & Ghannam, Samir & Jeganathan, Davina & Ma, Nelson, 2023. "Were CEO pay cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic merely symbolic? Shareholders' reaction and outrage," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kam C. Chan & Tao Chen & Baohua Liu & Junfeng Wu, 2022. "Air pollution and CEO compensation: Evidence from China," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 448-469, April.
    2. Sandra Aguilar-Gomez & Nathaly M. Rivera, 2024. "Air Pollution in the Global South: An Overview of Its Sources and Impacts," Working Papers wp561, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    3. Wang, Weilong & Wang, Jianlong & Ye, Huiying & Wu, Haitao, 2024. "Polluted air, smarter factories? China's robot imports shed light on a potential link," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    4. Alhashel, Bader S. & Albader, Sulaiman H., 2020. "How do sovereign wealth funds pay their portfolio companies’ executives? Evidence from Kuwait," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 303-322.
    5. Hao, Ying & Huang, Lixin & Huang, Yuxiu & Wei, Zi, 2023. "Air quality and CEO cross–regional turnover ——The role of compensation or incentive," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Weiping Li & Xuezhi Zhang & Shuyi Cheng & Xiaohang Ren, 2024. "Clear the air via dividends: Corporates' response to air pollution," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 3383-3396, May.
    7. Roy, Suvra & Nguyen, Harvey & Visaltanachoti, Nuttawat, 2023. "Be nice to the air: Severe haze pollution and mutual fund risk," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    8. Wang, Li & Dai, Yunhao & Kong, Dongmin, 2021. "Air pollution and employee treatment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    9. Shihe Fu & V. Brian Viard, 2022. "A mayors perspective on tackling air pollution," Chapters, in: Charles K.Y. Leung (ed.), Handbook of Real Estate and Macroeconomics, chapter 16, pages 413-437, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Yu, Shuangli & Shen, Yuxin & Zhang, Fan & Shen, Yongjian & Xu, Zefeng, 2022. "Air pollution and executive incentive: Evidence from pay-performance sensitivity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    11. Fu, Shihe & Viard, V. Brian & Zhang, Peng, 2022. "Trans-boundary air pollution spillovers: Physical transport and economic costs by distance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    12. Guo, Liwen & Cheng, Zhiming & Tani, Massimiliano & Cook, Sarah, 2024. "Air pollution and education investment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    13. Wang, Mingyue & Sun, Tianshi, 2023. "Leave for where? The impact of air quality on migration: Evidence at the city-pair level in China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    14. Chen, Shenglan & Lin, Bingxuan & Lu, Rui & Zhang, Ting, 2015. "Controlling shareholders’ incentives and executive pay-for-performance sensitivity: Evidence from the split share structure reform in China," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 147-160.
    15. Li, Rong & Liu, Luxi & Qiu, Yun & Tian, Xiaohui, 2024. "Air pollution and stock returns: The cash flow risk channel," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    16. Ron Chan & Martino Pelli & Veronica Vienne, 2023. "Air Pollution, Smoky Days and Hours Worked," CIRANO Working Papers 2023s-15, CIRANO.
    17. Eriana Kartadjumena & Waymond Rodgers, 2019. "Executive Compensation, Sustainability, Climate, Environmental Concerns, and Company Financial Performance: Evidence from Indonesian Commercial Banks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-21, March.
    18. Xie, Tingting & Yuan, Ye & Zhang, Hui, 2023. "Information, awareness, and mental health: Evidence from air pollution disclosure in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    19. Gang-Zhi Fan & Zsuzsa R. Huszar & Weina Zhang, 2016. "The Helping Hand of the State in Chinese Real Estate Firms: Anti-corruption and Liberalization," International Real Estate Review, Global Social Science Institute, vol. 19(1), pages 51-97.
    20. He Xiao, 2022. "How does air pollution affect corporate information environment?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 987-1016, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Air pollution; Executive compensation; Information environment; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:74:y:2022:i:c:s0927538x22001184. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/pacfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.