This paper studies optimal capital and labor income taxes when the benefits of public goods are age-dependent. Provided the government can impose a consumption tax, it can attain the first-best resource allocation. This involves the uniform taxation of the cohorts' labor income and a zero...

The allocation of resources between education and health is an important and puzzling decision for the governments in countries with high mortality rate. We build a three-period overlapping generation model with mortality risk and show that if public education expenditure exceeds a critical...

In this paper we argue that government's allocation of resources among competing age groups has significant bearing on labor and capital supply and optimal tax policies. Empirics reveal that allocation of public expenditure is highly favorable to the old cohorts in developed countries. However,...

The role of decentralized government in disaster management is well recognized among international donors and policy makers. However, there has been no rigorous attempt to address this issue. This paper studies the effect of fiscal and political decentralization on the death toll and the number...