Mr Cable told four School Reporters from Guildford County School in Surrey that despite the recent good press over his performance in relation to the economy, he expected a "good kicking" in the future.

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But there was a problem when pay awards appeared to "bear no relation to performance" - a situation that "undermines trust in the whole system", he said.

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Javier Gil-Bazo and Pablo Ruiz-Verdu studied the relationship between mutual fund performance, management fees, commissions and flow of funds in The Relation between Price and Performance in the Mutual Fund Industry.

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It seems very likely that allowing the principals to choose which teachers to lay off will most likely result in a better teaching staff than a layoff strategy based entirely on a criteria with no relation to performance.

FORBES: Are Unions Anti-Competitive?