Oct
06
2026
Speaker
Ulrich Wohak (CEU)
Vienna Campus, Quellenstrasse 51 · Room QS B-505
Title: “Better Executives Work at Better Firms: Identifying Talent Sorting from Mobility Networks”
Abstract: Where executives work can affect aggregate output when executive talent and firm productivity are complementary. Neither talent nor productivity is directly observed. We combine business outcomes with executives’ moves across firms to measure whether better executives work at better firms. Covariance decay with network distance identifies the correlation between executive talent and firm productivity. We apply the method to the universe of Hungarian corporations and their executives from 1990 to 2022: more than one million firms and 1.3 million executives. We estimate a firm-executive correlation of 0.5. Holding the firm and executive distributions fixed, random reassignment of executives across firms would reduce aggregate revenue by 13%.
When: Tuesday, October 6, 2026 · 12:30 – 1:30 pm (CET)
Where: Vienna Campus, Quellenstrasse 51 · Room QS B-505
Host: Department of Economics