Nick Clegg: We’ll force big business to publish gender pay gap data July 17, 2014 A Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge to force big companies to publish the average pay of their male and female employees has been dismissed as “crude” by the Institute of Directors (IoD). The policy, launched today by leader Nick Clegg and employment minister Jo Swinson, would mean businesses that employed more than 250 people must publish [...]
The Bank of England’s latest hire literally wrote the paper on the trade-off between growth and equality May 15, 2014 The arrival of US economist Kristin Forbes at the Bank of England is a huge win for the institution. With it, it's picked up one of the hottest properties in academia, with a near unrivalled knowledge of financial contagion and capital flows. She'll be the Monetary Policy Committee's first female member in five years when [...]
How executive pay regulations can increase inequality – not reduce it May 7, 2014 IN JUST two months, Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century has taken the world by storm. In it, he argues that substantial increases in inequality can only be reversed through government intervention. Piketty’s own suggestion is a 2 per cent annual wealth tax, and income tax rates of up to 80 per cent. In [...]
Why making it easier to volunteer would narrow Britain’s gender pay gap May 1, 2014 WILL the Conservatives’ flagship initiative, the Big Society, again occupy a prominent position in the upcoming elections? In deciding, the Tories might like to consult the surprising results of our recent research on volunteer work. We asked the following question: when you work for free to help others in society, does it also increase your [...]
The boardroom debate needs to move beyond gender April 10, 2014 WEAK and ineffectual boards are a risk to the health of their companies and to the whole UK economy. As the Flowers chairmanship of Co-op Bank showed, a board that does not contain the right mix of skills and experience will not be able to prevent mistakes from happening. We need financial and technical experts [...]
Inequality myth-busting: Why the UK doesn’t have to answer to Sweden March 18, 2014 CONCERN about inequalities of income and wealth is now a fashionable topic, and featured strongly in the gathering of the world’s top brass at Davos earlier this year. Much of the popular coverage of the subject gives the impression that not only is inequality at record highs, but that it is confined to the wicked [...]
Top financial firms face EU gender quotas for their boards August 11, 2013 CITY financial firms will be forced to set targets for the number of men and women holding roles within their management bodies from January onwards, as the UK’s financial watchdog prepares to implement European reforms. Around 2,400 investment companies regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority will have to lay out [...]