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Journal Article
It's time to tax employee benefits
Conference Paper
The Americanization of Japanese management
Journal Article
Inequality in the United States
Report
Defined contribution plans: the role of income, age and match rates
The growth of defined contribution plans has sparked debate concerning their effectiveness as a vehicle for retirement saving. Using data from the May 1993 Employee Benefits Supplement to the Current Population Survey, this paper examines whether DC plans have expanded overall pension coverage and whether their effects on retirement saving are the same across different age and income groups. Not surprisingly, I find that contributions to and early withdrawals from DC plans are strongly affected by income and age. The paper then discusses whether employer match rates are useful tools for ...
Working Paper
Downward nominal wage rigidity: evidence from the employment cost index
We examine the extent of downward nominal wage rigidity using the microdata underlying the BLS employment cost index--an extensive, establishment-based dataset with detailed information on wage and benefit costs. We find stronger evidence of downward nominal wage rigidity than did previous studies using panel data on individuals. Firms appear able to circumvent part, but not all, of this rigidity by varying benefits: Total compensation displays modestly less rigidity than do wages alone. Given our estimated amount of rigidity, a simple model predicts that the disinflation over the 1980s would ...
Working Paper
Has compensation become more flexible?
In recent years, numerous observers have argued that global competition, increased reliance on contingent workers, and the breakdown of implicit contracts have made compensation practices in the United States more flexible; in particular, employers have become more concerned with how an employee's pay compares to that in other firms and less concerned with considerations of equity or relative pay within the firm. This paper uses establishment-level data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Cost Index program to examine this claim by asking whether the variances of compensation ...
Report
Stock market valuation indicators: is this time different?
Record low dividend yields and record high market-to-book ratios in recent months have led many market watchers to conclude that these indicators now behave differently from how they have in the past. This paper examines the relationship between traditional market indicators and stock performance, and then addresses two popular claims that the meaning of these indicators has changed in recent years. The first is that dividend yields are permanently lower now than in the past because firms have increased their use of share repurchases as a tax-advantaged substitute for dividends. The second ...