*This is a cross-post from my old blog*
But does it really?
Lets see what the top banker in the US makes.
Ben Bernanke (U.S.): $191,300 (in 2008)
Hmm, well it’s not the most, but it’s definitely not a small sum (It’s actually really bad for the amount of hours he puts in, almost charity work). How does that stack up to the rest of the world?
Jean-Claude Trichet (EUR): $446,806 (EUR 351,816 in 2008)
Mervyn King (U.K.): $435,000 (GBP 290,000 in 2008)
Masaaki Shirakwa (JPY): $370,000 (in 2007)
Mark Carney (CAD): $350,000 max (in 2008)
Glenn Stevens (AUD): $160,000 (AUD 200,000 in 2008)
Alan Bollard (NZD): $378,000 (NZD 540,000 in 2007)
And who is the highest-paid central banker in the world?
Joseph Yam (HK): $1.32 million (HK$10.33M in 2007)
So the Chair of the Federal Reserve, the most powerful central bank in the world, makes close to the least amount of money…that’s harsh.
(Stats courtesy of Kathy Lien, FX currency expert)
It Don't Mean Much, These Seats are Cheap. 
Uncle Ben will make it up when he writes his Great Recession memoirs. It’s the permanent income hypothesis in practice. On a serious note, do you have any insights as to why there might be such a discrepancy? Bernanke does seem a bit younger than some of the central bankers.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Lucy
But is the salary really determined by power, or by performance?
Leigh:
How would that model explain Australia, though? Hong Kong, has had very stable NGDP growth, so compensation would be warranted. Of course, if you judge performance by a stable price level, then Japan should be up there as well…but then Hong Kong would be out.
The only two countries that could justifiably pay a high wage would be Canada and Australia.
Terrific read, thanks a million for putting it up.