Does joint taxation disadvantage women? To answer that question, this paper begins byreviewing unitary and bargaining models of intrafamily allocation, and then discusses thedeterminants of "bargaining power" in a world without taxes...

When a deficit occurs in the funding of collective goods, it is usually covered by raising theamount of taxes or by rationing the supply of the goods. This article compares the efficiencyof these institutions. We report the results of a 2x2 experiment based on a game in the firststage of which...

This paper makes a fresh attempt at characterizing optimal commoditytaxes. Under the usual assumptions, an extremely simple expressionof second-best commodity taxes is derived, showing tax rates as functions ofobservable variables only, rather than as functions of unobservable variablessuch as...

Until 2004, German long-term unemployed received a tax-financed benefit (Arbeitslosenhilfe)which exceeded social assistance for the disabled (Sozialhilfe). This has beenchanged by the recent reform known as “Hartz IV”: Effective from 2005, long-termunemployed on the one hand (who are no more...

Die Einbindung von Steuern in betriebswirtschaftlichePlanungsmodelle ist Standard in der modernen Investitionsrechnung. Allerdingsstellt sich die Frage der zu berücksichtigen steuerlichen Einzelvorschriften unddamit die Frage der optimalen Komplexität von Entscheidungsmodellen. DerBeitrag...

How much does society value redistribution? The common method to derive inverse-optimum welfare weights is by inverting an optimal-tax model. Our alternative imposes fewer restrictions on labor supply and enables comparisons across household types. We use a structural labor supply model to...

How much does society value redistribution? The common method to derive inverse-optimum welfare weights is by inverting an optimal-tax model. Our alternative imposes fewer restrictions on labor supply and enables comparisons across household types. We use a structural labor supply model to...

We develop a theory of tax reforms for a setting with multi-dimensional heterogeneity amongst taxpayers and multiple economic decisions that are all subject to fixed and variable costs. The theorems in this paper provide a complete characterization of the conditions under which Pareto- or...

We study the optimal taxation of expenditures that generate income while also serving a consumption function. We characterize the Pareto optimal income tax deduction for such mixed-purpose expenditures within a generalized Atkinson-Stiglitz model. Pareto optimality requires a partial deduction...

In their book The Power to Tax, Brennan and Buchanan have pointed to a central weakness of the traditional theory of public finance and especially of the theory of optimal taxation: This approach overlooked the problem of governmental power and the tendency of this power to be abused. It was...