Is CEO Pay Really Inefficient? A Survey of New Optimal Contracting Theories
13 Pages Posted: 24 Sep 2008 Last revised: 7 Dec 2011
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Is CEO Pay Really Inefficient? A Survey of New Optimal Contracting Theories
Is CEO Pay Really Inefficient? A Survey of New Optimal Contracting Theories
Date Written: June 29, 2011
Abstract
Bebchuk and Fried (2004) argue that executive compensation is set by CEOs themselves rather than boards on behalf of shareholders, since many features of observed pay packages may appear inconsistent with standard optimal contracting theories. However, it may be that simple models do not capture several complexities of real-life settings. This article surveys recent theories that extend traditional frameworks to incorporate these dimensions, and show that the above features can be fully consistent with efficiency. For example, optimal contracting theories can explain the recent rapid increase in pay, the low level of incentives and their negative scaling with firm size, pay-for-luck, the widespread use of options (as opposed to stock), severance pay and debt compensation, and the insensitivity of incentives to risk.
Keywords: Executive compensation, pay-performance sensitivity, rent extraction, optimal contracting
JEL Classification: D2, D3, G34, J3
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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