A lunch program sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute and the Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University

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Executive compensation has risen enormously since the 1970s, as has the body of research investigating the reasons for its sharp ascent. But only now in the midst of the “Great Recession” has this rise in compensation come to be widely seen as problematic. Has the rise in executive compensation come at the expense of rising living standards for lower wage workers? And if so, what role should public policy play in reforming the system?

On May 4, the Economic Policy Institute and the Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University sponsored an event that focused on a debate of what forces lie behind skyrocketing executive pay, as well as what, if anything, policy makers should do to turn things around.

Introduction

Christopher Wimer, Associate Director, Collaboration for Poverty Resarch, Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality

Moderator

Lawrence Mishel, President, Economic Policy Institute

Speakers

Robert Frank, Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management and Professor of Economics, Cornell University

Jesse Fried, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Alex Edmans, Assistant Professor of Finance, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania