In "Le capital au XXIème siècle" plädiert Thomas Piketty für eine drakonische Kapitalbesteuerung, um das Auseinanderdriften der Vermögen zu stoppen. Aber wegen ihrer schädlichen Anreizwirkung sind die von ihm anvisierten Steuersätze zu hoch. Eine Kombination aus niedrigeren Steuersätzen...

The idea of higher wealth taxes to finance the mounting public debt in the wake of the financial crises is gaining ground in several OECD countries. We evaluate the revenue and distributional effects of a one-time capital levy on personal net wealth that is currently on the German political...

We analyze the welfare implications of property taxation. Using a sufficient statistics approach, we show that the tax incidence depends on how housing prices, labor and other types of incomes as well as public services respond to property tax changes. Empirically, we exploit the German...

We use a New Keynesian DSGE model with a rental housing market to evaluate how financing a labor tax wedge reduction through higher property taxation affects the real economy and welfare. We find that a labor tax wedge reduction generates favorable macroeconomic effects and improves...

We use a New Keynesian DSGE model with search frictions on the housing market to evaluate how financing a labor tax reduction by higher property taxation affects the real economy and welfare. Search on the housing market enables us to explicitly model stocks and flows, which is necessary to...

We quantify the housing-consumption channel in mortgage demand according to which households borrow more following house-price increases since housing and non-housing consumption are imperfect substitutes. To identify this channel, we take a structural approach to mortgage demand and supply,...