On CEO Pay
21 January 2007
Editor, The Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
Roy Smith nicely debunks the myth that corporate CEOs generally are overpaid ("Worth Every Last Million," Jan. 21).
There's deep implausibility in the fashionable belief that CEO pay is driven to outlandish heights by greed. If we grant that CEOs are greedy, we must grant also that shareholders are greedy - which leads us to wonder why greedy shareholders would succumb so gullibly to greedy CEOs. Clearly, as Mr. Smith explains, CEO pay is determined by forces far more complex - if less suitable to justify inquisitions by self-righteous politicians - than “greed.”
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
Roy Smith nicely debunks the myth that corporate CEOs generally are overpaid ("Worth Every Last Million," Jan. 21).
There's deep implausibility in the fashionable belief that CEO pay is driven to outlandish heights by greed. If we grant that CEOs are greedy, we must grant also that shareholders are greedy - which leads us to wonder why greedy shareholders would succumb so gullibly to greedy CEOs. Clearly, as Mr. Smith explains, CEO pay is determined by forces far more complex - if less suitable to justify inquisitions by self-righteous politicians - than “greed.”
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Saturday October 6, 2007 at 1:37pm