Publication
Title
Incentives work: performance-related remuneration of directors before and during the great depression in Belgium
Author
Abstract
We study the payment of bonuses to directors of Belgian firms listed on the Brussels Stock Exchange in 1925-1934. Directors received substantial cash bonuses which were positively related to firm performance, measured by accounting income and changes in the market value of equity. If shareholders were expropriated via the payment of excessive director bonuses, we would expect a larger drop in stock market performance during the Great Depression for firms paying higher bonuses. However, our findings suggest that bonuses were a valuable tool for aligning the interest of directors and shareholders in an environment characterized by weak legal investor protection.
Language
English
Source (journal)
European review of economic history. - Cambridge, 1996, currens
Publication
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 2020
ISSN
1361-4916 [print]
1474-0044 [online]
DOI
10.1093/EREH/HEY022
Volume/pages
24 :1 (2020) , p. 192-218
ISI
000522848600008
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 05.05.2020
Last edited 02.10.2024
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