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American Economic Review Vol. 103 No. 3 2013

Extreme Wage Inequality: Pay at the Very Top

Brian Bell1; John Van Reenen2

1 Department of Economics, University of Oxford and Centre for Economic Performance, Manor Road, Oxford, OX1 3UQ. · 2 London School of Economics, Centre for Economic Performance, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE.

Abstract

We provide new evidence on the growth in pay at the very top of the wage distribution in the United Kingdom. Sectoral decompositions show that workers in the financial sector have accounted for the majority of the gains at the top over the last decade. New results are also presented on the pay of CEOs in the United Kingdom. We show how improved measurement of pay points to a stronger pay-performance link than previously estimated. This link is stronger, and more symmetric, for those firms in which institutional investors play a larger role.

DOI
10.1257/aer.103.3.153
Volume
103
Issue
3
Pages
153-157
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex

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