The literatures on differential commodity taxes and on quantity controls to supplement income taxation have developed separately. This paper combines these two strands in the standard framework of optimal nonlinear income taxation. The authors use a model with two types of households where the...

This paper addresses the question of the optimal taxation of labour and interest income in an overlapping generations model with two unobservable characteristics, ability and inheritance. We assume realistically that saving can only be taxed anonymously, whereas the tax on labour earnings can be...

We consider the implications of ethical behaviour on the effect of a redistributive tax-transfer system. In choosing their labour supplies, individuals take into account whether their tax liabilities correspond to what they view as ethically acceptable. If tax liabilities are viewed as ethically...

The use of minimum wages and unemployment insurance as instruments for redistributing income is analyzed. The government is assumed to be able to implement an optimal income tax in an economy consisting of two types of individuals who differ in ability. The effect of introducing a minimum wage...

<link rid="b14">Rochet (1991)</link> showed that with distortionary income taxes, social insurance is a desirable redistributive device when risk and ability are negatively correlated. This finding is re-examined when "ex post" moral hazard and adverse selection are included, and under different informational...