The public perception and normative valuation of executive compensation: an international comparison

Andreas Kuhn

No 518, IEW - Working Papers from Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich

Abstract: This paper describes individuals' perceptions and normative valuations of executive compensation using comparable survey data for fifteen OECD member countries. An overwhelming majority of individuals (more than 90%) believes that top executives earn more than they actually deserve. However, there is also substantial variation in the actual and ethical levels of executive compensation, both within and across countries. The empirical analysis further shows that subjective estimates of executive pay are associated with objective measures of inequality and redistribution, and that individuals' perceptions and normative valuations of executive compensation are associated with their more general political preferences.

Keywords: Executive compensation; subjective wage estimates; political preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 D63 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-pol
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