Do CEOs Matter? Evidence from Hospitalization Events
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Using variation in firms’ exposure to their CEOs resulting from hospitalization, we estimate the effect of chief executive officers (CEOs) on firm policies, holding firm-CEO matches constant. We document three main findings. First, CEOs have a significant effect on profitability and investment. Second, CEO effects are larger for younger CEOs, in growing and family-controlled firms, and in human-capital-intensive industries. Third, CEOs are unique: the hospitalization of other senior executives does not have similar effects on the performance. Overall, our findings demonstrate that CEOs are a key driver of firm performance, which suggests that CEO contingency plans are valuable.
Original language | English |
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Journal | The Journal of Finance |
Volume | 75 |
Issue number | 4 |
Pages (from-to) | 1877-1911 |
Number of pages | 35 |
ISSN | 0022-1082 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2020 |
ID: 249250728