It is well known that modern governments are unwilling to use poll taxes because it corresponds to political suicide. Still, poll taxes are allegedly the most efficient form of taxation. Building on Eaton and Rosen (1980) and Peck (1989), the goal of this paper is to show a case where an excise...

There are numerous links, both direct and indirect, betwwen real estate markets and insurance products. One of the diract links that has been the focus of much attention recently in the US is homeowners insurance, especially in hazard prone areas. Another direct link not receiving as much...

The future course of old-age mortality is of great importance to public sector expenditures in countries where old-age programs, such as Social Security and Medicare in the US, account for large fractions of the public budget. This paper argues that the competitive market prices of motality...

This paper uses direct evidence on the self-perceived and actual mortality risk of individuals, as well as the price and quantity of their life insurance, to evaluate whether asymmetric information is a barrier to trade in insurace markets.

This paper analyzes the savings and health care impacts of mortality contingent claims, defined here as income measures, such as annuities and life-insurance, under which earned income is contingent on the length of one's life. The postwar increase in mandatory annuity and life-insurance...