Are US CEOs Paid More? New International Evidence

Fernandes, Nuno; Ferreira, Miguel A.; Matos, Pedro; Murphy, Kevin J.

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Are US CEOs Paid More? New International Evidence

Review of Financial Studies, Forthcoming

66 Pages Posted: 10 Oct 2012 Last revised: 27 Nov 2012

See all articles by Nuno Fernandes

Nuno Fernandes

University of Navarra, IESE Business School; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Miguel A. Ferreira

Nova School of Business and Economics; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Pedro Matos

University of Virginia - Darden School of Business; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Kevin J. Murphy

University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business; USC Gould School of Law

Date Written: September 30, 2012

Abstract

This paper challenges the widely accepted stylized fact that CEOs in the United States are paid significantly more than their foreign counterparts. Using CEO pay data across 14 countries with mandated pay disclosures, we show that the US pay premium is economically modest and primarily reflects the performance-based pay demanded by institutional shareholders and independent boards. Indeed, we find no significant difference in either level of CEO pay or the use of equity-based pay between US and non-US firms exposed to international and US capital, product, and labor markets. We also show that US and non-US CEO pay has largely converged in the 2000s.

Keywords: executive compensation, CEO pay, international pay differences, stock options, corporate governance

JEL Classification: G32, G34, G38

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Fernandes, Nuno and Ferreira, Miguel Almeida and Matos, Pedro and Murphy, Kevin J., Are US CEOs Paid More? New International Evidence (September 30, 2012). Review of Financial Studies, Forthcoming , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2159119