Discussion of "Compensation policy and discretionary disclosure"

Nagar et al. (J. Accounting Econom. 34 (2003)) posits that stock-based compensation motivates managers to increase public disclosure of their private information. The hypothesis is intriguing and new to the literature, and the findings are consistent with it. However, developing the hypothesis depends on some unsupported assumptions and the link between the hypothesis and the empirical evidence is indirect, raising concerns about the validity of the study's inferences about the effects on disclosure of stock-based compensation. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.