Journal of Corporate Finance Vol. 79 2023
Do younger CEOs really increase firm risk? Evidence from sudden CEO deaths
open access
Abstract
This study uses sudden deaths of CEOs to provide causal evidence on the relation between CEO age and firm risk. I find that CEO age negatively influences firm risk, measured by stock return volatility, but has no effect on policy choices related to risk taking. These findings contrast prior studies, and suggest that the higher volatility is caused by uncertainty about the younger replacement CEOs' contribution to firm value, rather than changes to risk-related corporate policies.
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102367
- Volume
- 79
- Pages
- 102367
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref