We consider a “managerial optimal” framework for top executive compensation, where top management sets their own compensation subject to limited entrenchment, instead of the conventional setting where such compensation is set by a board that maximizes firm value. Top management would like to pay themselves as much as possible, but are constrained by the need to ensure sufficient efficiency to a...

Do international trade and technological change influence how firms create incentives for human capital? I present a model that incorporates agency problems into a framework with firm heterogeneity and human capital. My model indicates that trade liberalizations and skill-biased technological change alter the way how the largest firms in an economy incentivize their managers. Increases in manag...

CEOs are infrequently fired for poor performance (Jensen and Murphy, 1990). While financial distress is associated with higher managerial turnover, studies show that incumbent managers often retain control of the firm even in bankruptcy. In this paper, we study how inalienable managerial entrenchment – when it is costly to fire a manager even after poor performance – affects a manager's ability...

This paper investigates the differential impact of positive and negative excessive managerial entrenchment on CEO turnover-performance sensitivity, compensation, firm performance. We measure degree using E-index introduced by Bebchuk et al. (2009). Our findings suggest that an increase in excess reduces likelihood turnover due to poor also show a association between compensation as managers gai...

The nonlinear relationship between corporate value (Tobin's Q) and managerial ownership is well documented. This has commonly been attributed to the onset of managerial entrenchment, which results in a decrease of corporate value for increasing levels of managerial holdings. We propose a more complex structure for the corporate value { managerial ownership function, which accounts for the e®ect...

We examine the operating performance of Thai firms after they go public. Overall, we find that their performance declines. We then explore the relationship between managerial ownership and the change in firm performance. We find that firms with ‘low’ and ‘high’ levels of managerial ownership experience positive relationships between managerial ownership and the change in performance (alignment-...

We examine firms that reprice their executive stock options and find little evidence that repricing reflects managerial entrenchment or ineffective governance. Repricing grants are economically significant, but there is little else unusual about compensation in repricing firms. Repricers tend to be smaller, younger, rapidly growing firms that experience a deep, sudden shock to growth and profit...

Insider Entrenchment and CEO Compensation in Entrepreneurial Firms: An Empirical Investigation By Arno Forst, Ph.D. A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Chair: Dr. Benson Wier Professor, Department of Accounting This study investigates the...