Stacked Deck: Can Governance Structures Explain CEO Compensation Differences Across Countries?

摘要

Throughout the world, employees at the bottom of organizations earn far less than those at the top. Yet the gap between the top and the bottom-called income inequality-varies considerably across nations. CEOs in the United States, for example, earn more than 300 times as much as the average worker. In France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy, on the other hand, the ratio is less than 40 to 1. Could a major cause of this dramatic difference be hidden in corporate governance structures and norms? Do American corporate rules "stack the deck" in favor of those at the top? According to a recent study by Ola Sjoberg (Swedish Institute for Social Research), the answer is yes. In essence, Sjoberg found that governance structures have a powerful impact on how corporate earnings are distributed.