December 26, 2010
The NYT has a lengthy piece that notes the sharp rise in inequality in the last three decades due to the “superstar effect.” This is attributed in part to the fact that technology allows a top athlete or entertainer to be seen by far more people in 2010 than in 1960.
It is important to recognize that it was not technology alone that allowed superstars to profit from this change. The U.S. government has gone to great lengths to strengthen the reach and enforcement of copyright law, in many cases leading to serious restrictions on individual behavior. For example, it was briefly illegal to sell digital recorders because they were not encoded to protect copyrighted material.
This fact it is important because it means that policy decisions, not just technology, was central to the rise in inequality. This is also the case with the soaring pay of top corporate executives. This is attributed to their growing responsibilities as the size of the largest corporations increases. However, companies in Europe and Japan expanded as well without a corresponding increase in CEO pay. This suggests that the difference in compensation is more likely attributable to differences in laws and norms surrounding corporate governance than any increase in the value of effective leadership to corporate profitability.
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