[Asparagirl]

Absolutely. Keeping these things secret benefits no one but the employers.

[ikeboy]

That's not so obvious; if a norm against disclosing lets employers pay better performers/ people they want/etc more, then the result of disclosing is a flatter pay grid, which benefits those that would be at the low end, but hurts those at the high end.

I don't know or have specific reason to think it's true, but it's one model that's not obviously wrong (if it is, I'm more than happy to hear why).

[beeboop]

This is only true if there is a fixed pot of money to use on salaries. This is usually not the case.

[ikeboy]

There's certainly not an unlimited amount to spend on salaries; as long as a company is not willing to spend 250k on everyone, but is willing to spend it on some, this could be true.