U.S.-Style Pay Packages Are All the Rage in Europe

The New York Times reports:

Along with hip-hop and Hollywood movies, Europeans are eagerly importing another American phenomenon: soaring pay packages for chief executives.


For decades, Europeans were far more restrained than Americans when it came to rewarding the boss. Now, executives overseas are less inhibited about asking for American-style compensation. And often they are getting their wish.

But while huge paydays have become a staple of American corporate life, in Europe this appears to be less acceptable to investors, and in some countries, resistance is building.

The pay of Asian executives remains well behind that of their counterparts in the United States and Europe.

The law of one price,in economics,really does work over time.