DISCUSSION OF Response to Tax Law Changes Involving the Deductibility of Executive Compensation: A Model Explaining Corporate Behavior.
本文评论了Balsam和Ryan的研究，该研究分析了企业因税法变化修改薪酬计划的影响因素，重点关注数据问题、代理变量及新法的制度细节，对研究企业应对税法变化的学者有参考价值。
Abstract The article comments on the research paper by Steven Balsam and David H. Ryan analyzing the response to tax law changes involving the deductibility of executive compensation. According to the author this study explores the factors influencing a firm's decision to modify an existing compensation plan in response to the tax law change. He focuses on three specific areas of the research paper, which includes data issues, the proxies used, and additional issues regarding the new law including some institutional details not discussed by Balsam and Ryan. A challenge facing many empirical tax researchers is the lack of necessary data. In large part, this problem stems from federal and state laws that protect the privacy of taxpayers by prohibiting public access to information provided in tax returns. Balsam and Ryan present two hypotheses which examine the political costs to the firm and to the executives separately. Their second hypothesis examines whether the level of the firm's political costs is positively correlated with the decision to revise existing contracts.