As depicted in Figure 5, asset dispositions increased 100 percent and new investment
decreased 21 percent after adoption (compared to pre-adoption levels) for the residual-income
firms relative to the control firms. It is important to note that each of these results is driven by
actions in the post-adoption period. In fact, the residual income adopting firms actually were investing more relative to the control firms in the pre-adoption period. Each of these changes is
significant at conventional levels. However, it is difficult to interpret whether an observed
reduction in net investment is a value-increasing action since it is possible that managers are
reducing positive NPV projects – not just projects earning below their cost of capital. Critics of
RI-based compensation plans claim that they provide incentives for managers to under-invest in
positive NPV projects. Proponents and users of RI-based incentives claim otherwise