1. Polling from the resolutely centrist Progressive Centre UK, which found strong public support for policies like a mandatory maximum worker-to-CEO pay ratio, caps on bonuses, workers on boards etc.
2. A report out today from the High Pay Centre shows that shareholders in UK companies are *still* not using their legal rights to control executive pay.
3. Research by LAPFF found that the large majority of companies are choosing NOT to appoint worker directors to their boards.
4. The launch of the ace-a-tronic Common Wealth, which is going to focus on questions of ownership in various fields.
You can pull this all into quite a coherent picture: the public thinks executive pay is too high; shareholders have been given powers to tackle it but don't seem willing and/or able to do the job; companies have been encouraged to give workers a say at board level, which might help tackle it, but have stuck two fingers up in response; as a result public policy experts are looking at other more radical interventions.
As I've said before, I think we can see the bones of an alternative approach to corporate governance. It's primarily come from the Left, but I think it is rapidly becoming 'common sense' across a large range of people who look at policy in this area. To repeat it, I think we're looking at a shift away from shareholder primacy (so more action on corporate purpose, perhaps legal changes to directors' duties), stakeholder representation in corporate governance (workers on boards etc) and more diverse forms of ownership (again, a greater stake for employees looks to be pretty central).
Again I'm repeating myself, but at the 'ideas' level, things seem to be moving pretty quickly. I was genuinely surprised at how far Chuka Umunna's pamphlet went on issues like co-determination and employee ownership, for example. And I recently stumbled on this speech by the head of the New Zealand financial / capital markets regulator explicitly arguing against shareholder primacy.
Something is up.
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