We study optimal redistributive taxes when the population can be disaggregated into tagged groups. Under reasonable circumstances, the tax system will be more redistributive in the tagged group with the higher proportion of high-ability persons. We extend the analysis to the case where the tag...

This paper summarizes the various methodologies for estimating marginal effective tax rates applying to investment decisions. The conceptual framework is developed for several types of investment decisions, including depreciable capital, inventories, and depletable assets. The analysis involves...

The optimal income tax structure is studied in a setting in which workers make discrete labor market decisions and earnings are uncertain. Workers differ continuously along a single dimension that reflects their skills as well as their disutility of work in different jobs. A discrete number of...

This paper studies the role of monitoring as an instrument to improve the redistributive and insurance properties of an optimal tax-transfer system. Workers of different skills can choose to participate in job search or to become voluntarily unemployed. Labour markets exist for jobs of each...

This paper first discusses the notion of economic performance as applied to public enterprises and argues that productive efficiency is an attractive approach to performance measurement for such firms. It then presents an empirical efficiency study of postal services which is aimed at comparing...

In this paper we study the optimal design of a long term care policy in a setting that includes two types of care to dependent parents: financial assistance and assistance in time by children. The instruments are subsidies to aiding children, financed by a flat tax on earnings. The only source...

This paper provides a short survey of the theoretical discussion on the equivalence between taxation and debt financing of public expenditures. It stresses that the key assumption in this debate concerns the behaviour of individuals towards their economic environment and public policy. Then, it...

On the basis of French individual data, this paper compares the effects of demographic change, changes in morbidity and changes in practices on the growth in health expenditures that occurred between 1992 and 2000. Micro simulations show that the rise in expenditures due to ageing is relatively...

This paper incorporates the case of a variable number of children in a simple model of the distribution of inherited wealth. In particular, the possibility of childless couples, and hence of bequests from relatives other than parents (i.e., "collateral bequests") is considered. Within such a...