We study how US chief executive officers (CEOs) invest their deferred compensation plans depending on the firm's protability. By looking at the correlation between the CEO's return on these plans and the firm's stock return, we show that deferred compensation is to a large extent invested in the company equity in good times and divested from it in bad times. The divestment from company equity in bad times arguably rejects CEOs' incentive to abandon the firm and to invest in alternative instruments to preserve the value of their deferred compensation plans. This result suggests that the incentive alignment effects of deferred compensation crucially depend on the firm's health status.

CEO investment of deferred compensation plans and firm performance

Cambrea, Domenico Rocco;
2019

Abstract

We study how US chief executive officers (CEOs) invest their deferred compensation plans depending on the firm's protability. By looking at the correlation between the CEO's return on these plans and the firm's stock return, we show that deferred compensation is to a large extent invested in the company equity in good times and divested from it in bad times. The divestment from company equity in bad times arguably rejects CEOs' incentive to abandon the firm and to invest in alternative instruments to preserve the value of their deferred compensation plans. This result suggests that the incentive alignment effects of deferred compensation crucially depend on the firm's health status.
2019
2019
Cambrea, Domenico Rocco; Colonnello, Stefano; Curatola, Giuliano; Fantini, Giulia
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11565/4018806
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