This paper investigates the current tax subsidy to employer- provided health insurance, and presents new evidence on the economic effects of various tax reforms. It argues that previous analyses have overstated the tax subsidy to employer-provided insurance by neglecting the substantial and...

As growing numbers of retirees reach retirement age with substantial balances in self-directed retirement plans, annuities are likely to become increasingly important instruments for drawing down retirement savings. This study explores recent trends in the pricing of single-premium annuity...

This paper analyzes the statistical evidence bearing on whether transitory components account for a large fraction of the variance in common stock returns. The first part treats methodological issues involved in testing for transitory return components. It demonstrates that variance ratios are...

This paper explores the effect of estate and gift taxes on the after-tax rate of return earned by savers. The estate tax affects only a small fraction of households -- taxable decedents represented only 1.4 percent of all deaths in 1995 -- but the affected households account for a substantial...

This paper investigates the problem of responseand coding errors in the Current Population Survey. It draws upon a potentially rich source o finformation for verifying survey answers, a three month matched sample of CPS respondents, to analyze whether individuals' questionnaire responses...

Over the past several years, we have undertaken a series of analysies of the effect of IRA and 401(k) contributions on net personal saving. Saver hetero- geneity is the key impediment to determining the saving effect of these plans We emphasize that no single method can provide sure control for...

Although states and localities collect a substantial amount of revenue from corporate profits taxes and property taxes on corporate capital, these taxes have been inadequately reflected in previous calculations of the effective corporate tax rate and the pretax rate of return to corporate...

Numerous empirical studies have attempted to measure the effect of changes in dividend policy on corporate equity values. One of the most popular study methodologies has been an examination of share price changes around ex-dividend days. Comparing the movement in a stock's price with its nominal...

This paper documents the changing pattern of wage differentials between state and local government employees and their private sector counterparts during the 1979-1992 period. While the relative wages of women employed in the two sectors changed very little during this period, the relative wages...

This paper presents new estimates of the taxes paid on nonfinancial corporate capital, on the pretax rate of return to capital, and on the effective tax rate. The basic time series show that both the pretax rate of return and the effective tax rate have varied substantially in the past quarter...