The Advisors' Blog

– Liz Dunshee

As I blogged yesterday, the consumer discretionary industry is shaping up to have the highest average pay ratios – 977:1 among the S&P 500. That compares to a supposedly ideal ratio among consumers of 7:1, according to this study. And while the high numbers aren’t surprising given the workforce for most of those companies, this WSJ article says it could impact their bottom line. Here’s the high points:

A recent study found that consumers are significantly less likely to buy from companies with high CEO pay ratios. First, it found that sales declined for Swiss companies when their high pay ratios were publicized.

In a follow-up experiment, people had the chance to win a gift card to one of two retailers. In the absence of pay-ratio information, 68% of people chose one retailer’s card and 32% chose the other. But when participants were informed that the first of those retailers had a 705:1 pay ratio and the second had a 3:1 ratio, just 44% of people chose gift cards from the first retailer while 56% chose the second.

It’ll be interesting to see whether this holds true in “real life,” where customers probably aren’t looking at pay ratios at the same time they’re making a purchase – and may not have the option to buy from a company with a 3:1 ratio. The lowest ratios I’ve seen for that industry are around 100:1.

By the way, here’s this CNBC piece entitled “Companies with Closer CEO Pay Ratios May Generate Higher Profit Per Worker.”