High Pay Centre essay featured in collection published by the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank
We were delighted to be asked to contribute to a new book on top pay published by the Institute of Economic Affairs.
The IEA is one of the UK’s leading free market think tanks, and tends to take a very different view on isses of pay and inequality to the High Pay Centre. However, the essay collection features a range of interesting views on topics covering top pay in the public sector and in Universities, the gender pay gap and ninternational comparisons on pay.
Our contribution, written by HPC Director Luke Hildyard, focuses on why free marketeers should also be concerned about very high top pay, citing factors including:
- the lack of accountability of company directors, through a long train of investment intermediaries to the ultimate providers of capital, very often ordinary pension savers.
- the very high number of UK companies that received huge government support through subsidies, bail-out guarantees, lobbying of foreign governments and in-work benefits paid to employees
- the biases and conflicts of interest afflicting the well-paid directors and investors who set pay for their peers.
You can download Luke’s chapter here, and read the full publication here. Luke also took part in a podcast on the book with Darren Grimes and Professor Len Shackleton and the IEA, which can be found here