The choices made by governments about how to reward their top employees reveal a great deal about their values and their assumptions about governing. This book examines rewards of high public office in seven Asian political systems, a particularly rich set of cases for exploring the causes and consequences of the rewards of high public office, having some of the most generous and most meagre reward packages in the world.There are a range of economic, political and cultural explanations for the rewards provided by governments. Likewise, these choices are assumed to have a number of consequences, including variations in the levels of corruption and economic success.Reward for High Public Office includes case studies focusing on Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Singapore. It will interest students and researchers of politics, public administration and Asian studies.

Clay Wescott and Barbara Nunberg ForewordPart I Top Level Rewards in Public Office: An Overview1. Christopher Hood and Guy Peters with Grace Lee Introduction2. Christopher Hood and Jostein Askim with John Burns, Kousaku Dairokuno, Bob Gregory, Pan-Suk Kim, Grace Lee, Akira Nakamura, Martin Painter, Guy Peters and Jon Quah Alike at the Summit?Part II The Politics Behind the Numbers: Seven Cases3. John Burns Rewarding Comrades at the Top in China4. Martin Painter Rots, Perks and Fat Cats: Rewards for High Public Office in Australia5. Robert Gregory New Zealand - the End of Egalitarianism?6. Akira Nakamura and Kousaku Dairokuno Japan's Pattern of Rewards for High Public Office - A Cultural Perspective7. Pan-Suk Kim The Politics of Rewards for High Public Office in Korea8. Grace Lee Hong Kong: Institutional Inheritance from Colony to Special Administrative Region9. Jon Quah Paying for the 'Best and Brightest': Rewards for High Public Office in SingaporePart III Conclusion10. Christopher Hood and Guy Peters Conclusions: The Top Pay Game and Good Governance - Where Immodest Theories Meet Slippery Facts