This paper presents a general framework for characterizing the optimal pattern of subsidies for poverty alleviation under budgetary constraints and suggests possible reforms for the existing pattern of subsidies. The government may subsidize or tax goods in order to meet its objectives. The...

This paper studies the role of public policy to promote efficiency in human capital accumulation in the representative agent framework. Agents accumulate human capital by spending time in home study and in publicly provided schools. The individual faces an aggregate externality in the...

This paper provides a conceptual framework for the articles that follow in this special issue of the Journal of Education Finance by exploring how the external social benefits of higher education contribute to higher sustainable rates of per capita development of families and nations. It...

The U.S. economy is growing more slowly than it can and should be growing because it does not invest enough in infrastructure, science, and education. There is an important procedural obstacle to funding public investments — a process of scoring the economic effect of legislation. This process...

A link between social insurance and education policy is explored. Due to moral hazard full insurance against disability is not feasible. When high- and low-risk individuals can be identified, second-best social insurance system entails cross-subsidies from the low-risk group to the high-risk...

Azevedo and Gottlieb [2017] (AG) define a notion of equilibrium that always exists in the Rothschild and Stiglitz [1976] (RS) model of competitive insurance markets, provided costs are bounded. However, equilibrium predictions are sensitive to assumptions made about the upper bound of cost:...

We present and empirically implement an equilibrium labor market search model where risk averse workers facing medical expenditure shocks are matched with firms making health insurance coverage decisions. Our model delivers a rich set of predictions that can account for a wide variety of...