How Do Short-Term Incentives Affect Long-Term Productivity?
利用工厂级普查数据，研究发现为达到短期盈利目标而进行的股票回购会降低工厂和企业的长期生产率，原因在于减少了对提升生产率技术的投资以及资源在企业内部工厂间的低效配置。
Abstract Previous research shows that incentives to meet short-term earnings targets can cause firms to increase share buybacks, leading to cuts in investments and employment. Using plant-level census data, we find that incentives to engage in earnings-per-share-motivated buybacks result in lower productivity at both the plant and firm level. We attribute this productivity drop to two mechanisms: reduced investment in productivity-augmenting technology, and inefficient allocation of resources across a firm’s plants. We identify multiple frictions—including labor unions, financial constraints, agency problems, and adjustment costs—that can constrain efficient reallocations across plants and thus exacerbate the consequences of firms’ short-term incentives.