This paper applies the theory of relational contracts to make precise the idea that because households are engaged in a repeated non-cooperative game, Pareto efficient outcomes can be supported by self interest, given the specific pattern of specialisation and exchange which exists in the...

This paper analyses optimal piecewise linear tax systems for two-earner households, based on joint and individual incomes respectively. It models the interaction between wage rates and variation in child care prices and productivities as determinants of across-household heterogeneity in second...

This paper applies the theory of relational contracts to make precise the idea that because households are engaged in a repeated non-cooperative game, Pareto efficient outcomes can be supported by self interest, given the specific pattern of specialisation and exchange which exists in the...

This paper is concerned with the question of how couples should be taxed. One reason for the importance of this issue is simply that the overwhelming majority of individuals live in households formed around couples, and so it could be argued that empirically, this is the single most important...

In a recent paper, Piggott and Whalley (1996) argue for the superiority of joint taxation over individual taxation on the grounds that the "conventional wisdom" ignores the existence of household production, and that in the presence of this the usual Ramsey-type argument breaks down. We show in...

Tax reform proposals affect individual welfares in ways which strongly depend on the nature of specialization in household production and the pattern of trade within households. Variation in the degree of specialization in domestic production across households strongly influences the impacts on...

The existing literature on optimal income taxation is limited in its ability to cast light on issues of family taxation because the model of the household on which it is based fails to capture two important characteristics of real households: that they typically contain two adults and that...

This paper presents the properties of optimal piecewise linear income tax systems for families based on joint and individual incomes respectively. It models the interaction between the wage rates of mothers as "second earners" and variation in child care prices and productivities as determinants...

This paper applies the theory of relational contracts to make precise the idea that because households are engaged in a repeated non-cooperative game, Pareto efficient outcomes can be supported by self interest, given the specific pattern of specialisation and exchange which exists in the...