Almost all empirical studies that measure changes in wage inequality in the U.S. over time use only monetary wages as the measure of a worker’s compensation. The studies typically do not include measures of the value of fringe benefits (health insurance, pensions, etc.) that workers might receive. How might the omission of the value of fringes in these calculations affect the conclusions of these studies? That is, how might this omission cause the studies to overestimate or underestimate the increase in wage dispersion that has occurred over the last several decades?