I examine empirically whether the executive labor market helps to slot mana
gers with higher education quality into jobs where they can obtain greater
returns from their human capital skills. Comparing a sample of regulated ga
s and electric firms with manufacturing firms I find that utilities attract
CEOs with a lower-quality education than unregulated firms do, Comparing a
sample of airline firms pre- and postderegulation, airlines have CEOs with
a higher-quality education postderegulation, These results suggest that th
e labor market slots CEOs with a lower quality of education into regulated
business environments.