The paper constructs an asymmetric information model to investigate the efficiency and equity cases for government mandated benefits. A mandate can improve workers' insurance, and may also redistribute in favour of more "deserving" workers. The risk is that it may also reduce output. The more...

Using a new tax on fringe benefits initiated in India in 2005, this paper seeks evidence for the hypothesis that the difference in higher marginal tax rates on wages, relative to lower rates on fringe benefits, induces a reallocation of the total compensation package toward fringe benefits....

The US black-white wage gap is an issue that has attracted thorough investigation, but so far the corresponding gap for fringe benefits has not received sufficient attention. Although ethnic differences in fringe benefits could affect wage differences, previous analysis of ethnic wage gaps in...

The paper constructs an asymmetric information model to investigate the efficiency and equity cases for government mandated benefits. A mandate can improve workers' insurance, and may also redistribute in favour of more deserving workers. The risk is that it may also reduce output. The more...

The US employer-based health insurance tax exclusion created a system of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) with limited insurance choices and transparency that may lock employed households into health plans that are costlier or different from those they prefer to purchase. It may also prevent...

The Land and Income Tax Act 1954 was interpreted by the courts to provide a uniquely favorable tax status being granted to employee fringe benefits. The term "fringe benefit" describes those benefits passed by an employer to an employee other than the payment of wages and salaries. Tax Free...

Atypical work, or alternative work arrangements in U.S. parlance, has long been criticized for providing poorly-compensated employment. Although one group of atypical workers (contractors) seems to enjoy a wage premium, our cross-section results from the CPS and NLSY for the better-known...

This study is the first to estimate mothers' marginal willingness to pay (MWP) for job amenities directly. Its identification strategy relies on German maternity leave length. The key aspect of the maternal leave framework is that mothers can decide whether and when to return to their guaranteed...

Current tax law prevents workers from trading pre-tax employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) premiums for greater after-tax take-home income. Many workers thus may pay for health plans that are more expensive or have different features from plans they would directly choose for themselves. The tax...

This paper examines changes in the distribution of workers among different size firms and the resulting impact on employment-based health benefits. Small firms account for much of the new job growth in the United States. However, the percentage of workers in firms with fewer than 500 employees...