Implicit taxes in Social Security, which measure Social Security contributions net of benefits accrued as a percentage of earnings, tend to increase over the life cycle. In this paper, we examine the effects of three potential policy changes on implicit Social Security tax rates: extending the...

In this paper we quantitatively explore the overall welfare bene ts of social health insur-ance which is embedded in the US mixed health insurance system. We compare the currentUS mixed insurance system to three alternative systems: (i) a no health insurance system,(ii) a purely private health...

Implicit taxes in Social Security, which measure Social Security contributions net of benefits accrued as a percentage of earnings, tend to increase over the life cycle. In this paper, we examine the effects of three potential policy changes on implicit Social Security tax rates: extending the...

Resource allocations are jointly determined by the actions of social planners and households. In this paper we highlight the distinction between planner optimization and household optimization. We show that planner optimization is a substitute for household optimization and that this is true...