While always a popular topic, executive compensation has recently captured the particularly intense attention of academics, the Federal Reserve Bank, Congress, and the popular press. On June 14, 2010, a group of 15 distinguished economists—known as the Squam Lake Working Group on Financial Regulation—published a book chapter explaining how executive compensation contracts carried some blame for the recent financial crisis and how, going forward, they should be redesigned by financial institutions. This chapter added to a groundswell of scholarship suggesting reform of compensation design to avoid a similar crisis in the future. Two days after publication of the Squam Lake report, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech identifying executive compensation design as an important factor in regulating the financial industry. Approximately one month after that, “Pay Czar” Kenneth Feinberg issued his report as the Treasury Department’s Special Master for TARP Compensation Executive Compensation after a detailed evaluation of the executive pay practices of the financial institutions who received assistance from the TARP legislation. This panel will describe, analyze, and critique the recent proposals and the “Say on Pay” law. Particular attention will be devoted to compensation design and its incentive effects regarding executive effort and risk-taking.