Personal Life Security, Nonmonetary Benefits and Executive Compensation: Evidence from Stand Your Ground Laws

Description

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between personal life security and executive compensation by analyzing the impact of Stand Your Ground (SYG) laws. SYG laws, which grant individuals the legal right to use lethal force in self-defense without the duty to retreat, have the potential to affect executives' perception of personal security and consequently, their compensation preferences. Utilizing a difference-in-differences research design, we examine a comprehensive sample of U.S. firms from 2005 to 2020, focusing on the adoption of SYG laws in various states. We find that the overall executive compensation package tends to increase following the enactment of SYG laws. This suggests that the adoption of such laws leads to a heightened concern for personal security among executives, prompting them to negotiate for additional benefits. This finding highlights the importance of personal life security in shaping executive compensation preferences.

Period	9 Jun 2023
Event title	Postgraduate Seminar Series
Event type	Public Lecture