It's an issue which has caused considerable debate in both the upper echelons of the business world and on the streets with the average person.  At issue is the cash bonuses received by business executives.  In the UK recently, the government announced a tax on banker's bonuses in the lead up to this holiday season.  Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, says the government is going to hit banking executives who receive a bonus of over 25,000 pounds – or roughly 273,000 Renminbi – with a 50 percent tax on the bonus money this year.  This move comes amid growing concern among politicians about the optics of giving out large bonuses to executives of companies which were bailed out by their respective governments during the financial crisis.  In the United States, meanwhile, the Obama administration is also moving to limit the maximum compensation for hundreds of mid-level employees of institutions which received the largest of the government's cash infusions.  So what will these moves mean as far as the business climate is concerned when it comes to major institutions? 

Ni hao, you're listening to   People In the Know,  your window into the world around you, online at crienglish.com here on China Radio International.  In this edition of the show we'll be talking about executive compensation.

First we'll hear from a research firm looking into salaries and bonuses.  Aaron Boyd is the Head of Research for Equilar, a research firm in the US specializing in executive compensation and corporate governance. For more on this we're joined on the line now by Dr. Chris Rowley, Professor of Human Resource Management at the Cass Business School at the University of London.