The increasing amounts of money paid out in compensation to corporate executives have become the subject of a heated public policy debate on both sides of the Atlantic during the last decade. The magnitude of these sums, as well as the timing of payments relative to evidence of corporate success or - more notably, failure - has surprised and, in many cases, angered employees, shareholders and politicians, and drawn considerable attention in the media. Are executives in many firms exploiting their power to benefit themselves at the expense of other stakeholders or is the level of compensation...