Sam Bowman answers The Big Questions

Following the Fat Cat Wednesday pay debate, Executive Director Sam Bowman appeared on the BBC's The Big Questions, in defence of high executive pay and more. 

Sam Bowman champions evidence-based policy in Conservative Home

Sam Bowman's comment on the role of experts and politicians appeared in Conservative Home:

Ideology is often dressed up in terminology that sounds neutral but makes significant assumptions about the role of the state and its ability to effectively solve society’s problems. Anyone for some ‘evidence-based policy’?

Government Brexit strategy isn't in crisis, says Tim Worstall in CityAM

Senior ASI fellow Tim Worstall appeared in CityAM online and in print, quashing fears that the Brexit strategy was "in crisis":

To claim that anyone’s Brexit strategy is in crisis is to misunderstand what a strategy is. It is the goal that you have decided to reach.

Britain’s strategy in World War II was the unconditional surrender of Germany – everything else was tactics. Hulk’s strategy is “Smash!”. Britain’s strategy with respect to Brexit is: “Thank you, it’s been great, we’re leaving. Maybe we can do lunch some day?” Everything else is simply tactics.

Do we stay in the Single Market? The Customs Union? Allow free movement? These are all tactical decisions – ones we cannot possibly make until we know what cost the EU will impose for each. My own prediction is that the cost of staying in the Single Market and the Customs Union will be free movement – the one price we’ve said we’re not willing to pay. As every general knows, tactics are to be dealt with by junior officers.

Having voted to leave the EU, the strategy has been set. We must now let the junior officers get on with it.

High Pay Centre's Fat Cat Wednesday figures don't make sense, says Sam Bowman in the IB Times

Executive Director Sam Bowman's comments appeared in the International Business Times, criticising the High Pay Centre's figures on executive pay:

"None of these complaints are valid unless the High Pay Centre thinks it has a better way of estimating the value of executives to firms than those firms themselves. Can the High Pay Centre tell us how much CEOs are worth? If not, how can they say that they are overpaid?

"Chief executives can be worth quite a lot to firms, as is shown by huge moves in company share prices when good CEOs are hired, or bad CEOs are fired. Steve Jobs can make a firm; Steve Ballmer can break a firm. The High Pay Commission's complaints only make sense if you assume firms don't actually care about making money – which is to say, they don't make sense at all."

Sam also appeared on Sky News to discuss the topic.

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