The battle is under way in the United States to require companies to deduct the cost of share options as they would other company costs, and, unsurprisingly, the technology industry - which has dispensed share options to both management and employees with largesse - is objecting.

The argument is that if shares are expensed, companies won't give them out, which would be a bad thing because shares keep the interests of management in line with those of shareholders, and/or give encouragement and a kickback to hard-working employees.

But just in time to inject some reality into the debate comes a study from two Rutgers University professors, Joseph Blasi and Douglas Kruse.

The two had a gander at stock option grants and shareholder returns at the 1,500 largest US American companies from 1992 to 2001.

It turns out the companies that gave out the most shares to their top five executives actually had lower-than-average returns to shareholders.

And it confirmed that senior executives get the lion's share of options, not the employees.

Mr Blasi told the New York Times: "The problem is not a few bad apples but the entire system of executive compensation, which was created by a compromised system of corporate governance."