CEO Stress, Aging, and Death
We estimate the long-term effects of experiencing high levels of job demands on the mortality and aging of CEOs. The estimation exploits variation in takeover protection and industry crises. First, using hand-collected data on the dates of birth and death for 1,605 CEOs of large, publicly-listed U.S. firms, we estimate the resulting changes in mortality. The hazard estimates indicate that CEOs’ lifespan increases by two years when insulated from market discipline via anti-takeover laws, and decreases by 1.5 years in response to an industry-wide downturn. Second, we apply neural-network based machine-learning techniques to assess visible signs of aging in pictures of CEOs. We estimate that exposure to a distress shock during the Great Recession increases CEOs’ apparent age by one year over the next decade. Our findings imply significant health costs of managerial stress, also relative to known health risks.
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Copy CitationMark Borgschulte, Marius Guenzel, Canyao Liu, and Ulrike Malmendier, "CEO Stress, Aging, and Death," NBER Working Paper 28550 (2021), https://doi.org/10.3386/w28550.Download Citation
Non-Technical Summaries
- CEOs of firms that are more subject to risk of hostile takeover and experience industry distress appear to age faster, and to die...
Published Versions
MARK BORGSCHULTE & MARIUS GUENZEL & CANYAO LIU & ULRIKE MALMENDIER, 2025. "CEO Stress, Aging, and Death," The Journal of Finance, vol 80(6), pages 3401-3442.
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