If you did not get your multi-million-dollar bonus last year, few people will shed a tear for you. But spare a thought for people in the middle of your organisation. Many of them are highly vulnerable to risk with little prospect of reward.

In the last generation, wealth has stagnated for workers in the middle of the economy even as those at the top have, famously, become even richer and, an unsung achievement, many poor workers have increased their wealth share. Stagnating wages are the main cause; in the US, for example, the middle quintile is barely better off than it was 15 years ago. Though property values have increased, this asset is hard to access for ordinary income; to gain traction as consumers, mid-level families in the US and Britain have piled up debts, while middle-class Europeans have not done much better.