Bonus culture
Some have called for an end to a ‘bonus culture’ in banks and big firms. But bonus culture has been around a long time…
— Around the year ad 70, Roman legionnaires received bonuses of 25 denarii to supplement their salaries of 225 denarii.
— Bonuses were recorded by 14th-century Florentine banks, with one employee of the Peruzzi Company receiving 40 lire to supplement a salary of five times that sum.
— In 1965 India passed the Payment of Bonus Act, which entitled employees to a bonus of 8.33 per cent of their salary, and at least 100 rupees, providing they worked for more than 30 days in a year.
Who’s unbalanced?
Nicolas Sarkozy says ‘Britain has no industry any more’. How balanced is our economy compared with those of other rich nations?
% contributions to Gross Value Added, 2010
| Manufacturing | Services | |
| 11 | France | 80 |
| 21 | Germany | 71 |
| 17 | Italy | 73 |
| 18 | Japan | 73 |
| 12 | UK | 77 |
| 13 | US | 79 |
Source: US Census Bureau
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