for income comparisons eliminates the gap between equivalence scale parameters for adults and children found in other …We estimate household equivalence scales using income satisfaction data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. We extend … previous studies applying this approach by taking reference income into account. This allows separating needs-based from …

We analyze optimal taxation of labor and capital income in a life-cycle framework with idiosyncratic income risk. We … provide a novel decomposition of labor income tax formulas into a redistribution and an insurance component. The latter is … independent of the social welfare function and determined by the degree of income risk and risk aversion. The optimal linear …