Executive Compensation and Risk Taking

B-Tier
Journal: Review of Finance
Year: 2015
Volume: 19
Issue: 6
Pages: 2139-2181

Authors (3)

Patrick Bolton (not in RePEc) Hamid Mehran (Federal Reserve Bank of New Yo...) Joel Shapiro (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This article studies the connection between risk taking and executive compensation in financial institutions. A model of shareholders, debtholders, depositors, and an executive demonstrates that (i) excess risk taking can be addressed by basing compensation on both stock price and the credit default swaps (CDS) spread, (ii) shareholders may not be able to commit to design such contracts, and (iii) they may not want to due to distortions from deposit insurance or unobservable tail risk. The advantage of using the CDS spread rather than deferred compensation or debt is due to the fact that it is a market price and reduces agency costs.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:revfin:v:19:y:2015:i:6:p:2139-2181.
Journal Field
Finance
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-26