Executive Director of the ASI, Sam Bowman, was interviewed for the Today Programme on BBC4 on the High Pay Centre’s promotion of ‘Fat Cat Tuesday’. Listen to the full interview here. (Starts 02:52:45)
ASI comments on high pay feature in the Financial Times and Forbes
Executive Director Sam Bowman’s comments on the High Pay Centre’s promotion of ‘Fat Cat Tuesday’ have featured in the Financial Times and Forbes. From the Financial Times:
Sam Bowman, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, dismissed Fat Cat day as “the hand-waving of pub economics, not serious analysis”. He said: “Chief executives can be worth quite a lot to firms, as is shown by huge moves in company share prices when good CEOs are hired or bad CEOs are fired. Steve Jobs can make a firm; Steve Ballmer can break a firm.”
From Forbes (written by ASI Senior Fellow Tim Worstall):
There’s a number of problems with this manufactured outrage, as my colleague at the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, points out:
Top bosses will have earned more money by the end of Tuesday than the average worker will do in a year, campaign group the High Pay Centre has claimed. The group has declared the day Fat Cat Tuesday, based on chief executives earning £5m a year, compared with the median UK salary of £27,645. The think tank says its aim is to highlight the “unfair pay gap”.
ASI comments on high pay feature in BBC News and Sky News articles
Executive Director Sam Bowman's comments on the High Pay Centre's promotion of 'Fat Cat Tuesday' have featured in both BBC News and Sky News articles. From BBC News:
The calculations were criticised as "pub economics, not serious analysis" by the Adam Smith Institute.
"None of these complaints are valid unless the High Pay Centre thinks it has a better way of estimating the value of executives to firms than those firms themselves," said the institute's executive director, Sam Bowman.
"The High Pay Commission's complaints only make sense if you assume firms don't actually care about making money - which is to say, they don't make sense at all."
Read the full article here.
From Sky News:
Sam Bowman, the executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, said: "Despite consistent attacks on chief executive pay, the HPC has never told us how much they think CEOs are actually worth.
"Their complaints are the hand-waving of pub economics, not serious analysis ...Can the High Pay Centre tell us how much CEOs are worth? If not, how can they say that they are overpaid?
"Chief executives can be worth quite a lot to firms, as is shown by huge moves in company share prices when good CEOs are hired, or bad CEOs are fired."
He added: "The High Pay Commission’s complaints only make sense if you assume firms don’t actually care about making money – which is to say, they don’t make sense at all."
ASI comments on high pay feature in the IBTimes UK and Vice News
Executive Director Sam Bowman's comments on the High Pay Centre's promotion of 'Fat Cat Tuesday' have featured in the IBTimes UK and Vice News. From the IBTimes UK:
The Adam Smith Institute said the day was based on "pub economics" rather than "serious analysis". Executive director of this think tank, Sam Bowman, said: "None of these complaints are valid unless the High Pay Centre thinks it has a better way of estimating the value of executives to firms than those firms themselves. Can the High Pay Centre tell us how much CEOs are worth? If not, how can they say that they are overpaid?
"Chief executives can be worth quite a lot to firms, as is shown by huge moves in company share prices when good CEOs are hired, or bad CEOs are fired. Steve Jobs can make a firm; Steve Ballmer can break a firm. The High Pay Commission's complaints only make sense if you assume firms don't actually care about making money – which is to say, they don't make sense at all."
From Vice:
Sam Bowman, executive director of free market think-tank the Adam Smith Institute, dismissed the research as "pub economics."
"Despite consistent attacks on chief executive pay, the HPC has never told us how much they think CEOs are actually worth. Their complaints are the hand-waving of pub economics, not serious analysis — 'Surely you don't think executives can be this valuable to firms?', or 'Surely you don't think executives are more important now than they were forty years ago?'
He added: "Chief executives can be worth quite a lot to firms, as is shown by huge moves in company share prices when good CEOs are hired, or bad CEOs are fired. Steve Jobs can make a firm; Steve Ballmer can break a firm. The High Pay Commission's complaints only make sense if you assume firms don't actually care about making money — which is to say, they don't make sense at all."
Press Release: Fat Cat Tuesday is pub economics, not serious analysis
For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Head of Communications Kate Andrews: kate@adamsmith.org | 07584 778207. Commenting on the High Pay Centre's promotion of 'Fat Cat Tuesday', Executive Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, said:
Despite consistent attacks on chief executive pay, the High Pay Centre has never told us how much they think CEOs are actually worth. Their complaints are the hand-waving of pub economics, not serious analysis – “Surely you don’t think executives can be this valuable to firms?”, or “Surely you don’t think executives are more important now than they were forty years ago?”.
None of these complaints are valid unless the High Pay Centre thinks it has a better way of estimating the value of executives to firms than those firms themselves. Can the High Pay Centre tell us how much CEOs are worth? If not, how can they say that they are overpaid?
Chief executives can be worth quite a lot to firms, as is shown by huge moves in company share prices when good CEOs are hired, or bad CEOs are fired. Steve Jobs can make a firm; Steve Ballmer can break a firm. The High Pay Commission’s complaints only make sense if you assume firms don’t actually care about making money – which is to say, they don’t make sense at all.
Notes to Editors:
The Adam Smith Institute is a free market, libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates classically liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.
ASI comments on sales tax feature in The Scotsman
The Adam Smith Institute's comments advocating a local sales tax have been featured in The Scotsman:
Ten years ago, the Adam Smith Institute called for council tax and VAT to be scrapped and replaced with one local sales tax. It was claimed at the time this could supply the resources councils need while renewing interest in local government. It came amid public demonstrations following major rises in council tax before freezes were implemented in Scotland and England.
Senior Fellow Tim Worstall has his comment on the recent floods featured in The i Newspaper
Senior fellow at the ASI, Tim Worstall, has had his comment on the recent floods in the UK featured in The i Newspaper.
The floods might be explained by climate change. More realistically its because successive governments have permitted building on flood plains. The solution is to manage the landscape as our forefathers did.
Senior fellow Tim Worstall discusses the British steel industry on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC 5 Live
Senior Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, Tim Worstall, was interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC 5 Live on the issue of steel imports and the decline of the British steel industry. Listen to the BBC Radio Scotland clip here. (Starts 02:01:33)
Listen to the BBC 5 Live debate here. (Starts 01:13:19)
Sam Bowman's comments on a basic income feature on the BBC
Executive Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, has been cited on the BBC for his support of a basic income.
This general approach has been supported by the Green Party in the UK. It is also advocated by Sam Bowman of the Adam Smith Institute, a think tank that is not party political but is vigorously pro-free market in its outlook.
Kate Andrews discusses the gender pay gap on ITV News
Head of Communications at the Adam Smith Institute, Kate Andrews, discusses some of the misconceptions surrounding the gender wage gap on ITV News. She argues that the real wage gap is not between men and women, but between mothers and non-mothers.