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Economists emphasize performance-based compensation because we believe that people work harder (and better) when they have “skin in the game.” But it’s challenging to test this theory empirically, because people avoid being observed “shirking” their responsibilities. In this talk, I will discuss new evidence suggesting that this principle is not only true, but often neglected, in the upper echelons of corporate America. Evidence of the costs imposed by under-incentivized executives is made possible by our analysis of a novel measure of executive leisure consumption: the amount of golf they play.