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  3. American Economic Review
  4. May 2013
  5. Extreme Wage Inequality: Pay at the Very Top

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Extreme Wage Inequality: Pay at the Very Top

  • Brian D. Bell
  • John Van Reenen
American Economic Review
vol. 103, no. 3, May 2013
(pp. 153–57)
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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.

Citation

Bell, Brian D., and John Van Reenen. 2013. "Extreme Wage Inequality: Pay at the Very Top." American Economic Review, 103 (3): 153–57. DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.3.153

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D31 Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
  • J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
  • M12 Personnel Management; Executive Compensation