Hello! I am an Assistant Professor of Finance at Rice University Jones School of Business. I study corporate governance. My job market paper studies how shareholders influence executive compensation policy through shareholder voting. I’m also interested in corporate governance more broadly, corporate investment (including the determination of discount rates and capital budgeting), human capital and corporate flexibility.

I have a PhD in Finance from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a BA in Philosophy, Politics, Economics and Sociology (PPES) from Trinity College Dublin.

john.w.barry@rice.edu

CV

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Job market paper

  • Shareholder Voice and Executive Compensation
    November 2024
    Revision in progress, updated draft available upon request
    ssrn
    Abstract I estimate a model of CEO compensation with non-binding shareholder approval votes (Say-on-Pay). The Board sets pay and may be biased toward high pay; shareholders can fail the vote and punish the Board for overpayment. I estimate that failed votes are costly to both parties. Say-on-Pay resembles a costly punishment mechanism: its disciplining effect raises firm value by 2.4% on average, despite only 7% of votes failing. I analyze a counterfactual binding Say-on-Pay: vote failure fixes CEO pay to its previous level, which may not reflect current information about CEO skill. The vote failure rate falls, pay levels increase and firm value decreases.
    Presentations (* = scheduled) LBS Transatlantic Doctoral Conference, Duke Industrial Organization Seminar, WashU Olin Finance Conference PhD Poster Session, Boca Corporate Finance and Governance Conference, MFA 2024, Eastern Finance 2024, Aarhus Strategic Interactions in Corporate Finance Workshop, UTD Finance Conference*