Alexander Pepper Books

The book examines the dramatic rise in senior executive pay over the last three decades, attributing it to a market failure that leads to inefficient compensation practices across industries. It highlights the dilemma faced by remuneration committees, which often recommend inflated salaries in the pursuit of attracting top talent. Additionally, it addresses the challenges institutional investors face in addressing excessive pay, revealing a collective action problem that has historically hindered effective intervention.

This new book examines the relationship between agency theory and executive pay. It argues that while Jensen and Meckling (1976) were right in their analysis of the agency problem in public corporations they were wrong about the proposed solutions. Drawing on ideas from economics, psychology, sociology and the philosophy of science, the author explains how standard agency theory has contributed to the problem of executive pay rather than solved it. The book explores why companies should be regarded as real entities not legal fictions, how executive pay in public corporations can be conceptualised as a collective action problem and how behavioral science can help in the design of optimal incentive arrangements. An insightful and revolutionary read for those researching corporate governance, HRM and organisation theory, this useful book offers potential solutions to some of the problems with executive pay and the standard model of agency.