2017-04-04
26 分钟Hi, I'm Jess Winterstein and this is episode one of LSE IQ.
This is a podcast from the London School of Economics and Political Science where we ask leading social scientists and other experts to answer an intelligent question about economics,
politics or society.
Many people are outraged at how much big company bosses are paid,
particularly the fact that it seems to be increasing at an extraordinary rate.
But businesses insist that large salaries are crucial
for attracting and retaining top talent in a highly competitive global market.
It's a debate that clearly divides opinion.
Government has tried to intervene, some shareholders have rebelled but big business continues to call the shots.
In this episode,
Joe Bale investigates how Chief Execs continue to command such enviable rewards and asks the experts are they worth it?
Chief executives are taking home record pay packages worth tens of millions
while most people are lucky to get a small annual pay rise and many are struggling on minimum wage and zero hours contracts.
It all seems rather unfair but on the other hand highly talented people have always commanded lavish salaries and many aspire to be among them.
In my quest to find out if the pay packages are money well spent, I began by speaking to Deborah Hargreaves,
a former business journalist who is the founder of the independent think tank, the High Pay Centre.
She explained how until relatively recently being a Chief Executive was not such a big deal.
Well we've seen a real change in the role of Chief Execs over the past 30 years and what we've seen
since 1980 is an escalation in pay.
At the same time the job has changed so you've gone from having a Chief Exec who was a normal middle class business man in the 80s with a job that could be compared to the local bank manager,