http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/18027/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32344/ 2012-06-07T00:00:00Z This dissertation focuses on how executive compensation is designed and its implications for corporate finance and government regulations. Chapter 2 analyzes several proposals to restrict CEO compensation and calibrates two models of executive compensation that describe how firms would react to different types of restrictions. We find that many restrictions on CEO compensation would have unintended consequences. Restrictions on total realized (ex-post) payouts lead to higher average compensation, higher rewards for mediocre performance, lower risk-taking incentives, and the fact that some CEOs would be better off with a restriction than without it. Restrictions on total ex-ante pay lead to a reduction in the firm's demand for CEO talent and effort. Restrictions on particular pay components, and especially on cash payouts, can be easily circumvented. Chapter 3 examines how executive dividend protection affects corporate payout policy. I find that the dividend protection on executive restricted stock and option grants is associated with higher dividend payouts and lower share repurchases. Using the 2003 tax reform as an exogenous shock in dividend payouts, I provide further evidence that executive dividend protection causes changes in dividend payout policies. Chapter 4 studies a special subset of CEOs who works for a one-dollar annual salary. Rather than being the sacrificial acts they are projected to be, our findings suggest that some adoptions of one-dollar CEO salaries are opportunistic behavior of the wealthier, more overconfident, influential CEOs. Overall, these findings support the literature which claims that CEOs employ camouflage in compensation schemes to reduce the likelihood of public outrage over private benefits. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/23950/ 2011-06-06T00:00:00Z We analyze several proposals to restrict CEO compensation and calibrate two models of executive compensation that describe how firms would react to different types of restrictions. We find that many restrictions would have unintended consequences. Restrictions on total realized (ex-post) payouts lead to higher average compensation, higher rewards for mediocre performance, lower risk-taking incentives, and the fact that some CEOs would be better off with a restriction than without it. Restrictions on total ex-ante pay lead to a reduction in the firm's demand for CEO talent and effort. Restrictions on particular pay components, and especially on cash payouts, can be easily circumvented. While restrictions on option pay lead to lower risk-taking incentives, restrictions on incentive pay (stock and options) result in higher risk-taking incentives. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/29248/ 2008-10-01T00:00:00Z We have investigated dilute protein solutions with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and have observed that a rapid loss of proteins occurs from solution. It is commonly assumed that such a loss is the result of protein adsorption to interfaces. A protocol was developed in which this mode of protein loss can be prevented. However, FCS on fluorescent protein (enhanced green fluorescent protein, mCherry, and mStrawberry) solutions enclosed by adsorption-protected interfaces still reveals a decrease of the fluorescent protein concentration, while the diffusion time is stable over long periods of time. We interpret this decay as a loss of protein functionality, probably caused by denaturation of the fluorescent proteins. We show that the typical lifetime of protein functionality in highly dilute, approximately single molecule per femtoliter solutions can be extended more than 1000-fold (typically from a few hours to >40 days) by adding compounds with surfactant behavior. No direct interactions between the surfactant and the fluorescent proteins were observed from the diffusion time measured by FCS. A critical surfactant concentration of more than 23 μM was required to achieve the desired protein stabilization for Triton X-100. The surfactant does not interfere with DNA-protein binding, because similar observations were made using DNA-cutting restriction enzymes. We associate the occurrence of denaturation of proteins with the activity of water at the water-protein interface, which was recently proposed in terms of the "water attack model". Our observations suggest that soluble biomolecules can extend an influence over much larger distances than suggested by their actual volume. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/15215/ 2008-09-01T00:00:00Z The interaction of the nucleotide excision repair (NER) protein dimeric complex XPC-hHR23B, which is implicated in the DNA damage recognition step, with three Cy3.5 labeled 90-bp double-stranded DNA substrates (unmodified, with a central unpaired region, and cholesterol modified) and a 90-mer single-strand DNA was investigated in solution by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. Autocorrelation functions obtained in the presence of an excess of protein show larger diffusion times (τ d) than for free DNA, indicating the presence of DNA-protein bound complexes. The fraction of DNA bound (θ), as a way to describe the percentage of protein bound to DNA, was directly estimated from FCS data. A significantly stronger binding capability for the cholesterol modified substrate (78% DNA bound) than for other double-stranded DNA substrates was observed, while the lowest affinity was found for the single-stranded DNA (27%). This is in accordance with a damage recognition role of the XPC protein. The similar affinity of XPC for undamaged and 'bubble' DNA substrates (58% and 55%, respectively) indicates that XPC does not specifically bind to this type of DNA substrate comprising a large (30-nt) central unpaired region.