why has ceo pay been rising and what, if anything, should we do about it? robert h. frank epi forum...
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Why Has CEO Pay Been Rising and What, If Anything, Should We Do About It?
Robert H. Frank
EPI Forum on Executive Pay
May 4, 2010
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The market for university presidents
Bottom-line difference: (0.03)x($4 billion) = $120 million
Suppose Cornell’s Skorton was 3% better at fundraising than the 2nd-best candidate.
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“Obscene” Executive Pay?
CEOs of large US corporations earned
ten times the average worker’s salary in 1980
531 times the average worker’s salary in 2000
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Adam Smith:
People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.
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Winner-Take-All Markets
Markets in which reward depends not just on absolute performance but also on relative performance.
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CEO pay grew six-fold between 1983 and 2000, same as growth in market capitalization during that period.
Gabaix and Landier, 2006
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Alfred P. Sloan, Jr.
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CEOs with Fewer than Three Years Tenure When Appointed
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Inequality matters because context matters.
In a poor country, a man proves to his wife that he loves her by giving her a rose, but in a rich country he must give a dozen roses.
Richard Layard
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Expenditure Cascades
• Top earners spend more because they have more money.
• And so on all the way down the income ladder.
• That, in turn, shifts the frame of reference for those next below.
• This shifts frame of reference for those just below them, who also spend more.
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The cost of sending a child to a school of average quality is linked to the price of the average house in the community.
Median size of a newly constructed house:
1980: less than 1600 square feet
2007: more than 2300 square feet
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Evidence for Expenditure Cascade Hypothesis
In 100 most populous U.S. counties, those that experienced highest growth in income inequality also experienced highest
Growth in long commute timesGrowth in divorce rates
Growth in bankruptcy rates
Frank, Levine, and Dijk, 2010
In OECD, over time and across countries, higher 90/50 ratios are linked with longer hours of work
Bowles and Park, 2003
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Charles Darwin: Traits are selected because of their impact on the reproductive fitness of individuals, not groups.
Traits that benefit individuals often work to the disadvantage of groups.
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Big Antlers: Smart for One, Dumb for All
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Bigger Mansions: Smart for One, Dumb for All?
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The Progressive Consumption Tax
Consumption + Savings = Income
Consumption = Income – Savings
Taxable consumption = Income – Savings – standard deduction
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Taxable Consumption Marginal Tax Rate
0 - $39,999 20 percent
$40,000 - $49,999 22 percent
$50,000 - $59,999 24 percent
$60,000 - $69,999 26 percent
$70,000 - $79,999 28 percent
$80,000 - $89,999 30 percent
$90,000 - $99,999 32 percent
$100,000 - $129,999 34 percent
$130,000 - $159,999 38 percent
$160,000 - $189,999 42 percent
$190,000 - $219,999 46 percent
$220,000 - $249,999 50 percent
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Taxable Consumption Marginal Tax Rate
$250,000 - $499,000 60 percent
$500,000 - $999,999 80 percent
$1,000,000-$1,999,999 100 percent
$2,000,000-$3,999,999 150 percent
$4,000,000+ 200 percent
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If you were society’s median earner, which option would you prefer?
1) You save enough to support a comfortable standard of living in retirement, but your children attend a school whose students score in the 20th percentile on standardized tests in reading and math; or
2) you save too little to support a comfortable standard of living in retirement, but your children attend a school whose students score in the 50th percentile on those tests?