“The point is,” wrote Donald Trump in 1988, “that you can’t be too greedy.” History has largely proved him right. Compensation for US executives has been rising at a far swifter pace than wages of average workers since the 1970s.

Executive pay re-emerged as a potent political issue in the mid-term elections, with the options backdating scandal adding extra ammunition. But would-be reformers should remember the unintended consequences of previous attempts to meddle with management compensation. After all, the backdating mess, as well as the flood of stock options more broadly, was largely the result of tax and accounting treatment.