One major factor that induced excessive risk-taking is that firms’ standard pay arrangements reward executives for short-term gains, even when those gains are subsequently reversed. Although the financial sector lost more than half of its stock-market value during the last five years, executives were still able to cash out, prior to the stock market implosion, large amounts of equity compensation and bonus compensation.
引发过度投机的一个主要因素是：公司的薪酬标准架构是以高管的短期收益来衡量，即使这些收益随后被亏损掉也没有关系。尽管金融部门在过去的5年内市值损失了一半多，但是高管们仍能在股市崩盘前卖掉大量的股权套现和获得丰厚奖金。