One puzzle for researchers in recent decades surrounds two seemingly contradictory facts: The wage gap between Black and White men has remained stubbornly large in recent decades while, over the same period, racial discrimination has steadily declined. This divergence has occurred even as the racial gap in test scores, conditional on education, has also narrowed.

The stagnation of average earnings and rising income inequality in the United States since the 1970s has not only motivated economic research but has also informed discussions about political shifts among various demographics, as well as inspired policy debates about how to address this long-run phenomenon. This is especially true when it comes to the fate of male workers.

US corporations go to great lengths to avoid paying taxes, and some of those avoidance schemes—like moving profits to offshore tax havens—regularly make headlines. However, there are many more subtle techniques to reduce a corporation’s tax bill, and those methods are often practiced by tax accountants with firm- or industry-specific skills. Employing these tax experts can have beneficial effects and provide competitive advantages for firms.

Imagine that you are looking for a new job at a different company, and that you are considering employers that would pay you more money for your skills than you are currently receiving. From an economist’s point of view, you are necessarily seeking a job at a firm that is more productive than your current employer. Why? Because if the new company is able to pay more for similar skills, it must make more productive use of those skills, which allows it to share some of those productivity gains with you in the form of a higher salary.