Pay Cuts for the Boss: Executive Compensation in the 1940s

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Boston University; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve System Board of Governors; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S002205071100249X
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 225-251
• 关键词: UNITED-STATES; wage; income; INEQUALITY

摘要

Executive pay fell during the 1940s, marking the last notable decrease in the past 70 years. We study this decline using a new panel data set on the remuneration of top executives in 246 firms. Government regulation including explicit salary restrictions and taxation had, at best, a modest effect on executive pay. By contrast, a decline in the returns to firm size and an increase in the power of labor unions contributed greatly to the reduction in executive compensation relative to other workers' earnings from 1940 to 1946. The continued decrease in relative executive pay remains largely unexplained.