The objective of this paper is to study to what extent parents divide their estates unequally between their children. Unequal sharing of parental transfers is, for example, a necessary condition for theories of altruistic (dynastic) behavior to hold. I use a new data set based on the estate...

Microsimulation models allow targeted simulations to analyze the impacts of alternative policies, measures, scenarios based on microunits like persons, families, households, firms etc. Meanwhile it is out of question that microsimulation models are a helpful, successful and an imperative...

The empirical evidence suggests that parents use inter vivos gifts (i.e., transfers of tangible and financial property) to compensate less well off children whereas post mortem bequests are divided equally among siblings. We study a theoretical model assuming, first, that the amounts given is...

We show how normative standpoints determine optimal taxation of wealth. Since wealth is not equal to capital, we find very different welfare implications of land rent-, bequest- and capital taxation. It is mainly land rents that should be taxed. We develop an overlapping generations model with...

Does parental wealth inequality impact next generation labor income inequality? And does a tax on parental wealth affect the labor income distribution of the next generation? We tackle both questions empirically using detailed intergenerational data from Norway, focusing on effects on wages...

Meritocratic beliefs are often invoked as justification of inequality. We provide evidence on how meritocratic beliefs are shaped by economic status and how they contribute to the moral justification of inequality. In a large-scale survey experiment in the US, we show that success causes a...

Microdata have become increasingly important for economic and social analyses. One striking problem with almost any practical analysis of microdata, microdata as a singular cross or longitudinal sample or within (static) microsimulation, is to achieve representative results. In this study a...

This study on market and non-market labor supply and taxes is based on a theoretical microeconomic model with multiple labor supply in the formal and informal economy. This multiple time allocation model, which explicitly takes into account taxes, transfer payments, socioeconomic characteristics...

In recent years microsimulation models (MSMs) have been increasingly applied in quantitative analyses of the individual impacts of economic and social programme policies. The suitability of using microsimulation as an instrument to analyze main and side policy impacts at the individual level...

With the data of the de facto anonymised income tax statistics 1998 (FAST 98), the German official statistics are for the first time publishing microdata from the field of fiscal statistics. The scientific community can use these data to analyse politically-relevant questions on the fiscal and...