Mark Warshawsky on Compensation, Health Care Costs, and Inequality

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 2 January 2017

⏱️ 67 minutes

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Summary

Economist and author Mark Warshawsky of George Mason Univerity's Mercatus Center talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his work on the role health care benefits play in measuring inequality. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Warshawsky shows that because health care benefits are a larger share of compensation for lower-paid than higher-paid workers, measures of inequality and even measures of economic progress can be misleading or distorted. The conversation covers a wide range of topics related to how the labor market treats workers and the role of benefits in setting overall compensation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:08.5	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:13.1	Our website is econtalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find
0:18.1	links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:21.0	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done
0:25.2	going back to 2006.
0:27.5	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
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0:34.5	Today's December 8, 2016, and before introducing today's guest, I want to encourage listeners
0:39.3	to go to econtalk.org.
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0:47.7	us some additional feedback about your listening habits.
0:50.5	Really appreciate that.
0:52.3	Now onto today's guest, author and economist, Mark Waschowski, senior research fellow at
0:58.6	the Mercata Center at George Mason University.
1:01.9	Mark has written widely on pensions, retirements, so security and other policy issues.
1:06.1	Our topic for today is a recent working paper is written, earnings inequality, the implications
1:11.6	of the rapidly rising cost of employer-provided health insurance.
1:16.0	Mark, welcome to e-contalk.
1:18.0	Thank you.
1:19.0	I really appreciate the opportunity to chat about this.
1:21.0	Well, it's incredibly important, and I was, this is an area of general interest to me,
	...

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