This paper compares the use of equivalent income with that of utility, in the social welfare function, in optimal income tax models. Equivalent income is a money metric welfare measure that, unlike utility, is not affected by monotonic transformations of utility. The use of equivalent income is...

This paper examines take-up rates in a model in which there is a fixed non-refundable cost of applying for benefits. The model involves a joint decision regarding both labour supply and the take-up of the benefit. There is a single means-tested benefit involving a "taper rate" at which benefits...

This paper contrasts the approaches of Alfred Marshall and Francis Y. Edgeworth to economics, paying particular attention to their views on moral philosophy and the role of mathematics in economics. Edgeworth's analysis of trade unions, stimulated by Marshall's discussion, is examined in...

This paper examines compensating wage differentials for an individual utility maximizing worker in a two-period framework in which labor supply is endogenous. Comparisons are made for a flat-rate and a two-tier pension containing an earnings-related component, allowing for other taxes and...