Publications

Publications

Filter Results: (67) Arrow Down

Show Results For

Page 1 of 67 Results →
Sort by

Are you looking for?

→Search All HBS Web
  • December 2019 (Revised May 2020)
  • Case

Income Inequality and the CEO Pay Ratio at TJX Cos

By: Ethan Rouen and Akari Furukawa
TJX Companies reported a CEO pay ratio of 1,596-to-1 in 2019, leaving board chair Carol Meyrowitz with a host of questions about whether, and how, she could take action to address concerns raised by having one of the highest pay ratios in the S&P 500. As a retail... View Details
Keywords: CEO Pay Ratio; Income; Equality and Inequality; Executive Compensation; Corporate Disclosure; Business and Stakeholder Relations
Related
  • April 2018
  • Article

Consumers Avoid Buying from Firms with Higher CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratios

By: Bhavya Mohan, Tobias Schlager, Rohit Deshpandé and Michael I. Norton
We document a novel driver of consumer behavior: pay ratio disclosure. Swiss corporation performance data gathered during a legally mandated pay ratio referendum reveals that salient high pay ratios are associated with decreased firm sales (Pilot Study). An... View Details
Keywords: Pay Ratio; Wage Fairness; Purchase Intention; Customers; Wages; Fairness; Consumer Behavior
Related
  • January 2020
  • Article

Rethinking Measurement of Pay Disparity and Its Relation to Firm Performance

By: Ethan Rouen
I develop measures of firm-level pay disparity and examine their relation to firm performance. Using comprehensive compensation data for a large sample of firms, I find no statistically significant relation between the ratio of CEO-to-mean employee compensation and... View Details
Keywords: Pay Disparity; Pay Ratio; CEO Pay Ratio; Income Inequality; Executive Compensation; Employees; Wages; Equality and Inequality; Business Ventures; Performance
Related
  • 2017
  • Working Paper

Rethinking Measurement of Pay Disparity and its Relation to Firm Performance

By: Ethan Rouen
I develop measures of firm-level pay disparity and examine their relation to firm accounting performance. Using comprehensive compensation data for a large sample of firms, I find no statistically significant relation between the ratio of CEO-to-mean employee... View Details
Keywords: Pay Disparity; Pay Ratio; CEO Pay Ratio; Income Inequality; Executive Compensation; Wages; Equality and Inequality; Business Ventures; Performance
Related
  • 16 Jun 2015
  • Working Paper Summaries

Paying Up for Fair Pay: Consumers Prefer Firms with Lower CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratios

Keywords: by Bhavya Mohan, Michael I. Norton & Rohit Deshpandé
  • 2020
  • Working Paper

Consumers Punish Firms That Cut Employee Pay in Response to COVID-19

By: Bhavya Mohan, Serena Hagerty and Michael Norton
Two experiments, including one incentive compatible study, examine the impact of cutting pay for executives versus employees in response to COVID-19 on consumer behavior. Study 1 explores the effect of announcing cuts or no cuts to CEO and employee pay, and shows that... View Details
Keywords: Employee Furloughs; CEO Pay Cuts; Pay Ratios; Purchase Intention; Health Pandemics; Employees; Wages; Executive Compensation; Consumer Behavior
Related
  • May 2020
  • Teaching Note

Income Inequality and the CEO Pay Ratio at TJX Cos

By: Ethan Rouen
Teaching Note for HBS No. 120-063. View Details
Related
  • Article

How Much (More) Should CEOs Make? A Universal Desire for More Equal Pay

By: Sorapop Kiatpongsan and Michael I. Norton
Do people from different countries and different backgrounds have similar preferences for how much more the rich should earn than the poor? Using survey data from 40 countries (N = 55,238), we compare respondents' estimates of the wages of people in different... View Details
Keywords: Inequality; Justice; Wage; Cross-cultural; Wages; Equality and Inequality; Fairness; Income; Employees; Management Teams; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues
Related
  • 11 Aug 2017
  • Working Paper Summaries

Rethinking Measurement of Pay Disparity and Its Relation to Firm Performance

Keywords: by Ethan Rouen
  • 10 Aug 2015
  • Research & Ideas

Why a Federal Rule on CEO Pay Disclosure May Get You In Trouble With Customers

check. In sheer terms of gaining favor among consumers, a firm with a high CEO-to-worker pay ratio must offer a substantial 50 percent discount to keep up with a firm that maintains a low View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail
  • 12 Nov 2012
  • Research & Ideas

Pay Workers More So They Steal Less

at Urbana-Champaign. “Our study suggests that an increase in wages will decrease theft, but won't fully pay off” With this research, Sandino and Chen contribute to a growing body of knowledge about how wages affect employee behavior and... View Details
Keywords: by Kim Girard; Retail
  • 09 Jun 2015
  • First Look

First Look: June 9, 2015

Pay Ratios By: Mohan, Bhavya, Michael I. Norton, and Rohit Deshpandé Abstract— Prior research examining consumer expectations of equity and price fairness has not addressed wage fairness, as measured by a... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
  • 2014
  • Article

Unequality: Who Gets What and Why It Matters

By: Michael I. Norton
Who should get what, and what are the consequences? Economic inequality in the United States has been rising for decades, yet only recently have behavioral scientists explored two central questions surrounding the optimal level of inequality. First, what are the... View Details
Keywords: Inequality; Ethics; Productivity; Gambling; Equality and Inequality; Fairness; Income; Performance Productivity; United States
Related
  • January 2008
  • Background Note

Convertible Arbitrage

By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford
The goal of this simulation is to understand how convertible bonds can be viewed as a portfolio of simpler securities and to introduce an over-the-counter market. The convertible bonds that are available during the simulation are at-the-money and in-the-money so that... View Details
Keywords: Bonds; Investment Portfolio; Price; Risk Management; Mathematical Methods
Related
  • 08 Oct 2010
  • What Do You Think?

Will Transparency in CEO Compensation Have Unintended Consequences?

further thought: "Does increasing transparency and visibility of the ratios help increase the ability for shareholders and boards to make better choices?" He commented, "One of the best agents to advocate for the right... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
  • 27 Sep 2011
  • Working Paper Summaries

Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings

Keywords: by Michael Luca & Jonathan Smith; Education; Information; Publishing
  • Research Summary

Overview

By: Ethan C. Rouen
Relying on empirical archival methodologies—as well as techniques in data science—to develop and structure new sources of data by which to approach questions of looming disclosure changes, Professor Rouen has focused on one of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s... View Details
  • 2025
  • Working Paper

Bank Capital and the Growth of Private Credit

By: Sergey Chernenko, Robert Ialenti and David Scharfstein
We show that business development companies (BDCs), a significant source of private credit, are very well capitalized according to bank capital frameworks. These types of private credit funds have median risk-based capital ratios of about 36%, which is 26 percentage... View Details
Keywords: Financing and Loans; Capital; Credit; Financial Institutions
Related
  • 20 Nov 2012
  • First Look

First Look: November 20

concentration ratios (CRs), varies across the nine sectors comprising the industry, but all are within the range generally considered as indicative of a competitive industry. At the holding company level, the four largest organizations... View Details
Keywords: Sean Silverthorne
  • 17 Jan 2018
  • Research & Ideas

If the CEO’s High Salary Isn't Justified to Employees, Firm Performance May Suffer

that CEOs take home versus average employee pay is taking on added importance in 2018, as public companies in the United States are mandated for the first time to disclose pay View Details
Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Are you looking for?

→Search All HBS Web