Assessing fairness of CEO compensation and its implications on income inequality in Singapore

With increasing unhappiness about the widening income gaps between the rich and poor in Singapore, this paper takes the first step to look into the income of the country’s top earners and aims to evaluate the fairness and justifiability of such large pay gaps. Specifically the following questions ar...

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Main Authors: Cheong, Wei Qi, Liang, Yi Hui, Yeo, Weimaine
Other Authors: Tang Yang
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76874
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author Cheong, Wei Qi
Liang, Yi Hui
Yeo, Weimaine
author2 Tang Yang
author_facet Tang Yang
Cheong, Wei Qi
Liang, Yi Hui
Yeo, Weimaine
author_sort Cheong, Wei Qi
collection NTU
description With increasing unhappiness about the widening income gaps between the rich and poor in Singapore, this paper takes the first step to look into the income of the country’s top earners and aims to evaluate the fairness and justifiability of such large pay gaps. Specifically the following questions are posed: 1. What are the main determinants of CEO compensation in Singapore; 2. Do these determinants affect CEO Compensation components (Fixed and Variable) differently; 3. What industrial effects are present for CEO compensation; 4. Are large income gaps between CEOs and average workers justifiable? i.e. are the gaps a result of efficient contracting or abuse of CEO power and government/state relationships? The first of its kind to investigate Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation empirically in Singapore, this paper utilizes the fixed effects Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) regression model to identify determinants of CEO compensation and included localized traits of Singapore. These traits include Singapore’s high dependency on global trade, presence of indirect corporate relationships of firms to the state, and the large population of family-managed firms. CEO compensation was analyzed in three forms - totality, fixed component, and variable component to give rise to a more holistic view on the channel to which the determinants affect compensation. Results show that while CEO compensation reflects efficient contracting of talents and efforts, there are signs of CEO power abuse and unfair government subsidies as well. To further investigate this, interaction effects of controversial determinants such as state relationships, family ties and CEO power are regressed. Results for state relationships show insignificant interaction effects but results for CEO power and family ties showed positive relationship with CEO compensation.
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spelling ntu-10356/768742019-12-10T14:01:17Z Assessing fairness of CEO compensation and its implications on income inequality in Singapore Cheong, Wei Qi Liang, Yi Hui Yeo, Weimaine Tang Yang School of Social Sciences DRNTU::Social sciences::Economic development With increasing unhappiness about the widening income gaps between the rich and poor in Singapore, this paper takes the first step to look into the income of the country’s top earners and aims to evaluate the fairness and justifiability of such large pay gaps. Specifically the following questions are posed: 1. What are the main determinants of CEO compensation in Singapore; 2. Do these determinants affect CEO Compensation components (Fixed and Variable) differently; 3. What industrial effects are present for CEO compensation; 4. Are large income gaps between CEOs and average workers justifiable? i.e. are the gaps a result of efficient contracting or abuse of CEO power and government/state relationships? The first of its kind to investigate Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation empirically in Singapore, this paper utilizes the fixed effects Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) regression model to identify determinants of CEO compensation and included localized traits of Singapore. These traits include Singapore’s high dependency on global trade, presence of indirect corporate relationships of firms to the state, and the large population of family-managed firms. CEO compensation was analyzed in three forms - totality, fixed component, and variable component to give rise to a more holistic view on the channel to which the determinants affect compensation. Results show that while CEO compensation reflects efficient contracting of talents and efforts, there are signs of CEO power abuse and unfair government subsidies as well. To further investigate this, interaction effects of controversial determinants such as state relationships, family ties and CEO power are regressed. Results for state relationships show insignificant interaction effects but results for CEO power and family ties showed positive relationship with CEO compensation. Bachelor of Arts in Economics 2019-04-20T10:50:07Z 2019-04-20T10:50:07Z 2019 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76874 en 45 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Social sciences::Economic development
Cheong, Wei Qi
Liang, Yi Hui
Yeo, Weimaine
Assessing fairness of CEO compensation and its implications on income inequality in Singapore
title Assessing fairness of CEO compensation and its implications on income inequality in Singapore
title_full Assessing fairness of CEO compensation and its implications on income inequality in Singapore
title_fullStr Assessing fairness of CEO compensation and its implications on income inequality in Singapore
title_full_unstemmed Assessing fairness of CEO compensation and its implications on income inequality in Singapore
title_short Assessing fairness of CEO compensation and its implications on income inequality in Singapore
title_sort assessing fairness of ceo compensation and its implications on income inequality in singapore
topic DRNTU::Social sciences::Economic development
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76874
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AT yeoweimaine assessingfairnessofceocompensationanditsimplicationsonincomeinequalityinsingapore