{"insight":{"id":"121542888","lede":".","slug":"stock-options-comprise-63-of-average-ceo-pay-in-america-but-only-24-in-germany","title":"Stock options comprise 63% of average CEO pay in America, but only 24% in Germany.","showTitleAsQuote":false,"epistemicStatus":"fact","reports":[{"id":"69359365","title":"Codetermination","slug":"codetermination"}],"tags":[{"slug":"executive-compensation","name":"Executive Compensation","id":"121525247","lede":"

Executive compensation refers to the payments – both financial and otherwise – executives receive for their services. Executive compensation is generally a mix of salary, performance-based bonuses (which may be in cash, shares, or call options), and benefits.

\n\n

Since the 1980's, executive compensation in the US has soared relative to workers' wages. CEO-to-worker compensation increased frmo 20-to-1 in 1965 to 278-to-1 in 2018. From 1978 - 2018, CEO compensation increased by 940% while average worker wages grew only 11.9%.

\n","ledeExcerpt":"Executive compensation refers to the payments – both financial and otherwise – executives receive for their services. Executive compensation is generally a mix of salary, performance-based bonuses (which may be in cash, shares, or call options), and benefits.\n\nSince the 1980's, executive compensation in the US has soared relative to workers' wages. CEO-to-worker compensation increased from 20-to-1 in 1965 to 278-to-1 in 2018. From 1978 - 2018, CEO compensation increased by 940% while average worker wages grew only 11.9%.","featured":null},{"slug":"corporate-governance","name":"Corporate Governance","id":"69359562","lede":"

Corporate governance describes "the processes, structures, and mechanisms that influence the control and direction of corporations" (Greg Shailer, 2018).

\n\n

"Control" refers to how stakeholders and other external groups influence those who are responsible for decision-making, while "direction" refers to the guidance and management of the corporation.

\n","ledeExcerpt":"Corporate governance describes \"the processes, structures, and mechanisms that influence the control and direction of corporations\" (Greg Shailer, 2018).\n\n\"Control\" refers to how stakeholders and other external groups influence those who are responsible for decision-making, while \"direction\" refers to the guidance and management of the corporation.","featured":null},{"slug":"growth","name":"Growth","id":"23932836","lede":"

We define growth as the expansion of wealth in society; growth is about generating a "a bigger pie".

\n\n

Amidst debates over the merits of continued growth, we begin with the idea that all else equal, a society with growth, with more wealth, is preferable to one with less. Without growth, society becomes a zero-sum distributional game: anyone's gain is another's loss. Growth (all else equal) enables shared prosperity.

\n\n

But there is broad agreement that current measures of growth, such as GDP, are inadequate to the task of providing a suitable proxy to guide further growth. Whether devising improved measures that account for missing elements such as sustainability, equity, leisure time, or digital value, or constructing altogether new proxies (OECD's Better Life Index, for example), the conversation about how best to measure, and thus drive, equitable, regenerative, socially desirable growth is a rich field of debate.

\n","ledeExcerpt":"We define growth as the expansion of wealth in society; growth is about generating a \"a bigger pie\".\n\nAmidst debates over the merits of continued growth, we begin with the idea that *all else equal*, a society with growth, with more wealth, is preferable to one with less. Without growth, society becomes a zero-sum distributional game: anyone's gain is another's loss. Growth (all else equal) enables shared prosperity.\n\nBut there is broad agreement that current measures of growth, such as GDP, are inadequate to the task of providing a suitable proxy to guide further growth. Whether devising revised measures, such as Tyler Cowen's notion of wealth plus\" (GDP, plus measures of leisure time, household production, and environmental considerations), or constructing altogether new proxies (OECD's 'Better Life Index), the conversation about how best to measure, and thus drive, equitable, regenerative, socially desirable growth is a rich field of debate.","featured":true}],"sources":[{"id":"121542874","lede":"\"Fighting Short-Termism With Worker Power asks, “Can Germany’s co-determination system fix American corporate governance?” Prioritizing immediate increases in share price and payouts at the expense of long-term business investment and growth—a behavior we refer to as short-termism—has driven the inequality crisis in America and weakened our economy. By comparing the German stakeholder system of co-determination to corporate governance in the U.S., we find that emboldening workers with legitimate stakeholder power can help hold back the forces of short-termism.\"","link":"https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/fighting-short-termism-with-worker-power/","slug":"fighting-short-termism-with-worker-power-roosevelt-institute","kind":"Report","title":"Fighting Short-Termism with Worker Power","year":"2017-01-01","researchers":[{"id":"121542873","location":"Senior Editor and Researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Independent Business Initiative","name":"Susan Holmberg","seoDescription":"","slug":"susan-holmberg"}]}]}}