| dc.description.abstract | Research has shown that generalist CEOs enjoy higher pay than do specialist CEOs.
However, the implication of CEO expertise on how CEOs are paid is largely unknown. We
conjecture that because of information asymmetry, generalist CEOs may overstate their ability
when contracting with shareholders. Thus the pay should be more closely linked to firm
performance for generalist CEOs than for specialists in an optimal contract. Our results support
this conjecture, especially when generalist CEOs are early in their tenure or are less known in the
executive labor market or when they are more important for firm performance. The results are
robust to endogeneity concerns. Alternative explanations such as risk-taking or price efficiency
are unlikely to account for our findings. Overall, our results support the optimal contracting
perspective of executive compensation. | nb_NO |
