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The Impact of Employee Stock Options on the Evolution of Compensation in the 1990s

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  • Hamid Mehran
  • Joseph Tracy

Abstract

Between 1995 and 1998, actual growth in nominal compensation per hour (CPH) accelerated from approximately 2 percent to 5 percent. Yet as labor markets continued to tighten in 1999, the growth in CPH paradoxically slowed. In this article, we attempt to solve this aggregate wage puzzle by exploring whether changes in pay structure - specifically, the increased use of employee stock options - can account for the behavior of CPH in the late 1990s. CPH reflects employee stock options on the date they are realized rather than on the date they are granted. When we recalculate CPH growth to reflect the value of current stock options when they are granted - rather than their value when they are realized - we find that our adjusted CPH measure accelerated in each year from 1995 to 1999.

Suggested Citation

  • Hamid Mehran & Joseph Tracy, 2001. "The Impact of Employee Stock Options on the Evolution of Compensation in the 1990s," NBER Working Papers 8353, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8353
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    Cited by:

    1. Champagne, Julien & Kurmann, André & Stewart, Jay, 2017. "Reconciling the divergence in aggregate U.S. wage series," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 27-41.
    2. Oyer, Paul & Schaefer, Scott, 2005. "Why do some firms give stock options to all employees?: An empirical examination of alternative theories," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 99-133, April.
    3. Jordi Galí & Thijs van Rens, 2021. "The Vanishing Procyclicality of Labour Productivity [Why have business cycle fluctuations become less volatile?]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(633), pages 302-326.
    4. Jordi Galí & Frank Smets & Rafael Wouters, 2012. "Unemployment in an Estimated New Keynesian Model," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(1), pages 329-360.
    5. Jordi Galí, 2011. "The Return Of The Wage Phillips Curve," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 436-461, June.
    6. Julien Champagne & André Kurmann, 2010. "The Great Increase in Relative Volatility of Real Wages in the United States," Cahiers de recherche 1010, CIRPEE.
    7. Carl M. Campbell, 2017. "Pre-recession wage inflation and the strength of the subsequent recovery," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(18), pages 1331-1334, October.
    8. Bjørnar Karlsen Kivedal, 2018. "A new Keynesian framework and wage and price dynamics in the USA," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 1271-1289, November.
    9. Ge Zhang, 2006. "Market Valuation and Employee Stock Options," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(9), pages 1377-1393, September.
    10. Rosanne Altshuler & Alan J. Auerbach & Michael Cooper & Matthew Knittel, 2009. "Understanding US Corporate Tax Losses," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 23, pages 73-122, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. N Mohan & J Ruggiero, 2003. "Compensation differences between male and female CEOs for publicly traded firms: a nonparametric analysis," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 54(12), pages 1242-1248, December.
    12. Michael Elsby & Bart Hobijn & Ayseful Sahin, 2013. "The Decline of the U.S. Labor Share," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 44(2 (Fall)), pages 1-63.
    13. Alan S. Blinder & Ricardo Reis, 2005. "Understanding the Greenspan standard," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Aug, pages 11-96.
    14. Alan S. Blinder & Ricardo Reis, 2005. "Understanding the Greenspan standard," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Aug, pages 11-96.
    15. Ahmad Ibn Ibrahimy & Dr. Rubi Ahmad, 2012. "Executive Stock Option Exercising Behavior: Evidence From Bursa Malaysia," Far East Journal of Marketing and Management, Far East Research Centre, vol. 2(2), pages 14-24, August.
    16. Kevin F. Hallock & Craig A. Olson, 2010. "New Data for Answering Old Questions Regarding Employee Stock Options," NBER Chapters, in: Labor in the New Economy, pages 149-180, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Sang Cheol Lee & Jaewan Park & Mooweon Rhee & Yunkeun Lee, 2018. "Moderating Effects of Agency Problems and Monitoring Systems on the Relationship between Executive Stock Option and Audit Fees: Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-24, November.
    18. repec:pri:cepsud:114blinderreis is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Champagne, Julien & Kurmann, André, 2013. "The great increase in relative wage volatility in the United States," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 166-183.
    20. Wenjing Ouyang & Menghistu Sallehu, 2015. "How do Broad-Based Stock Option Grants Affect Firms' Overall Future Productivity," The International Journal of Business and Finance Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 9(2), pages 21-38.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy

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