Data

I hope that other researchers find the below data helpful. I regret that I do not have capacity to answer individual questions on the data (although please let me know if you think that there is an error), but the papers below should provide all the necessary details.

1. Scaled Wealth-Performance Sensitivity

This is the dollar change in CEO wealth for a 100 percentage point change in firm value, divided by annual flow compensation. The key advantage of this incentive measure is that, empirically, it is independent of firm size, and thus comparable across firms and over time. Theoretically, it is generated by a model where effort has a multiplicative effort on both firm value and CEO utility.

For further details, please see Edmans, Alex, Xavier Gabaix and Augustin Landier (2009): A Multiplicative Model of Optimal CEO Incentives in Market Equilibrium (Review of Financial Studies 22, 4881-4917.)

  • Section 1 shows how such a measure is theoretically generated by a multiplicative model of CEO effort. Equation (15) defines the measure.
  • Section 2 and Table 2 shows that, empirically, the measure is independent of firm size.
  • Appendix B describes the variable construction in detail. Through 2005, our estimation of the deltas of previously-granted options uses estimations of the strike price and maturities based on the methodology in Core, John E. and Wayne R. Guay (2002): Estimating the Value of Employee Stock Option Portfolios and Their Sensitivities to Price and Volatility (Journal of Accounting Research 40, 613-630), plus a few minor modifications / additional assumptions.
  • Since we wrote the paper, Execucomp now discloses the strike prices and maturities of previously-granted options directly, so we use these inputs from 2006 onwards

Thanks to Sai Zhang, a pre-doctoral researcher funded by the LBS AQR Asset Management Institute, for updating this dataset to 2019.

2. Investment Bank Mergers

This spreadsheet contains the details of major investment bank mergers between 1980-2007. Jack Bao and I compiled the list using Securities Data Corporation, Company Histories (from company websites) and other public sources for our paper on M&A advisory. It includes mergers of all major M&A advisors, but does not include commercial banks or investment banks that are inactive in M&A; similarly, some mergers in the list may be acquisitions of only the M&A banking business rather than the entire bank. Even though all of this can be amassed from public sources, since the dataset took non-trivial time to compile and involved extensive cross-checking across sources, we thought it may be of help to other researchers. If you use this spreadsheet, please reference:

Bao, Jack and Alex Edmans (2011): Do Investment Banks Matter For M&A Returns? (Review of Financial Studies 24, 2286-2315.)

We regret that we do not have capacity to answer questions on individual mergers in the list. However, if there is a merger of a major M&A advisor that you believe is missing, please contact me.

3. 100 Best Companies To Work For In America

This spreadsheet contains the list of the 100 Best Companies To Work For In America, produced by the Great Place To Work Institute, and their respective PERMNOs from CRSP. The list was initially published in a book in 1984, which was later updated in 1993. Since 1998, it has been published in Fortune magazine every January. If you use this spreadsheet, please reference:

Thanks to Sai Zhang, a pre-doctoral researcher funded by the LBS AQR Asset Management Institute, for updating this dataset to 2020.

Edmans, Alex (2011): Does the Stock Market Fully Value Intangibles? Employee Satisfaction and Equity Prices (Journal of Financial Economics 101621-640) which first used the list from 1984-2009
Edmans, Alex (2012):  The Link Between Job Satisfaction and Firm Value, With Implications for Corporate Social Responsibility (Academy of Management Perspectives 26, 1-19) which used the updated list from 1984-2011.