CEOs with military experience are 70pc less likely to be involved in corporate fraud than the average of US chief executives, say Efraim Benmelech of Northwestern University and Carola Frydman of Boston University. The implication may be that the military instills a stronger sense of ethics than typical business training, the researchers suggest. Among large, publicly held companies, the proportion of CEOs with military backgrounds has declined markedly, from 59pc in 1980 to 6.2pc today.

(Source: Journal of Financial Economics)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business July 27th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play