Stock Market Tournaments
47 Pages Posted: 28 Sep 2012
Date Written: June 2012
Abstract
We propose a new theory of suboptimal risk-taking based on contractual externalities. We examine an industry with a continuum of firms. Each firm's manager exerts costly hidden effort The productivity of e ffort is subject to systematic shocks. Firms' stock prices reflect their performance relative to the industry average. In this setting, stock-based incentives cause complementarities in managerial effort choices. Externalities arise because shareholders do not internalize the impact of their incentive provision on the average effort. During booms, they over-incentivise managers, triggering a rat-race in effort exertion, resulting in excessive risk relative to the second-best. The opposite occurs during busts.
Keywords: Contractual Externalities, Excessive Risk-Taking, Insuffi cient Risk-Taking, Stock-Based Incentives
JEL Classification: D86, G01, G30
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation