Outraged about executive pay? Calm down – the market’s taking care of it

Rising executive pay has long been a rallying cry for leaders on the left. But they needn't worry, says Matthew Lynn. The trend is going into reverse.

15-10-29-Sorrell-634

WPP's extravagantly paid Sir Martin Sorrell

Fat cat CEOs. Rewards for failure. Widening inequalities between the boardroom and the shop floor. In the last two decades there has been a huge rise in what the people running companies get paid, and a widening gap between their rewards and what their shareholders and staff are making.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.