War-experienced CEOs and corporate policies: Evidence from the Korean war

We investigate the relationship between traumatic war experiences of chief executive officers (CEOs) and their corporate decisions. Using the Korean war event, we find that CEOs exposed to the war in their earlier lives tend to be conservative in corporate policies. Among the war-experienced CEOs, we also find that those who have witnessed large-scale massacres exhibit more conservative behavior. Moreover, war-experienced CEOs make more conservative decisions during a period of financial crisis or when they have ownership. In summary, our results show that early-life exposure to traumatic experiences significantly induces CEOs to be risk-averse.