"(T)o say that the individual is culturally constituted has become a truism. . . . We assume, almost without question, that a self belongs to a specific cultural world much as it speaks a native language." James Clifford

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Reining in Corporate Pay: Europe as a Model of Fairness for America

Corporate compensation—executive pay in particular—represents a “clear market failure,” so said Vince Cable, the business secretary in the E.U. state of Britain.[1] While suspected, the sheer explicitness, or blatant manner, of this verdict is itself noteworthy. Moreover, it stands as an opportunity for the E.U. to surpass the U.S. on economic fairness, which is a type of justice (see John Rawls). That is to say, Europe had an opportunity at the time of Cable’s statement to set the E.U. on a trajectory that would make the unfairness in the American system more transparent.


The full essay is at "Reining in Corporate Pay."

1, Julia Werdigier, “British Government Works to Rein in Corporate Pay,” The New York Times, January 23, 2012.