The Independent:
It's time to lay siege to the robber barons of high finance
24 August 2015
It's a powerful and timely point. Rent extraction and rising inequality are two sides of the same coin. Research by Brian Bell and John Van Reenen last year suggested that up to two-thirds of the increase in the overall share of wages taken by the top 1 per cent of earners since 1999 is due to a massive increase in bankers' bonuses. Nor was there any decline in bankers' share of earnings after the financial crisis. In other words, rising inequality is largely a problem of bankers' pay.
This article was published by The Independent on August 24, 2015
Link to article here
Related publications
'Bankers and their Bonuses', Brian Bell and John Van Reenen, Centre for Economic Performance Occasional Paper No.35, February 2013
Related links
Brian Bell webpage
John Van Reenen webpage
Productivity and Innovation Programme webpage