TY - JOUR
T1 - Executive pay and performance
T2 - did bankers’ bonuses cause the crisis?
AU - Gregg, Paul
AU - Jewell, Sarah
AU - Tonks, Ian
PY - 2012/3
Y1 - 2012/3
N2 - This paper examines the pay-performance relationship between executive cash compensation (including bonuses) and company performance for a sample of large UK companies, focusing particularly on the financial services industry, since incentive misalignment has been blamed as one of the factors causing the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. Although we find that pay in the financial services sector is high, the cash-plus-bonus pay-performance sensitivity of financial firms is not significantly higher than in other sectors. Consequently, we conclude that it unlikely that incentive structures could be held responsible for inducing bank executives to focus on short-term results.
AB - This paper examines the pay-performance relationship between executive cash compensation (including bonuses) and company performance for a sample of large UK companies, focusing particularly on the financial services industry, since incentive misalignment has been blamed as one of the factors causing the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. Although we find that pay in the financial services sector is high, the cash-plus-bonus pay-performance sensitivity of financial firms is not significantly higher than in other sectors. Consequently, we conclude that it unlikely that incentive structures could be held responsible for inducing bank executives to focus on short-term results.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84858174666&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2443.2011.01136.x
U2 - 10.1111/j.1468-2443.2011.01136.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1468-2443.2011.01136.x
M3 - Article
SN - 1369-412X
VL - 12
SP - 89
EP - 122
JO - International Review of Finance
JF - International Review of Finance
IS - 1
ER -