Third, our study demonstrates the importance of corporate
governance; namely, the effects of ownership and
internal corporate governance factors in affecting CEO
compensation contracting. We document substantial
changes in the internal corporate governance and ownership
structure of Chinese firms in our sample years. We find
broad support that board and shareholder monitoring substitute
for the need of equity incentives. We also find that
economic variables, such as firm performance and firm size,
and CEOs’ human capital, are more important factors
shaping the level of CEO pay than ownership and corporate
governance variables. In particular, the effect of corporate
governance on CEO pay level is considerately weaker after
controlling for unobserved firm heterogeneity and pay persistence.
Overall, our results show that the effectiveness of
internal corporate governance mechanisms is limited, particularly
after considering the impact of wage dynamics in
the pay-setting process.