One of the principal determinants of an asset's return is its liquidity - the ease with which the asset can be bought and sold. Liquid assets yield a lower return than do otherwise comparable illiquid assets. This Article demonstrates that an income tax alters the tradeoff between asset...

Some taxes, most notably FICA, apply to a base that is neither tax inclusive nor tax exclusive. This note provides formulas for expressing tax rates on hybrid tax bases in tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive terms, and demonstrates that obligations under the Self Employment Contributions Act fail to...

This paper is based on a simple proposition, which we believe but cannot prove: If taxpayers support the way their tax dollars are spent, they are more likely to comply voluntarily and less likely to change their behavior to avoid tax. To show that our claim is plausible, we offer direct...

We provide survey evidence regarding taxpayer perceptions of two important tax expenditures — the charitable contribution deduction (CD) and the home mortgage interest deduction (HMID). We find that taxpayers have a flawed understanding of both programs. Taxpayers underestimate their...

An income tax cannot simultaneously maintain progressive marginal tax rates, an equal tax burden for all married couples with identical incomes ("couples equity"), and neutrality with respect to the tax burden of married vs. unmarried couples ("marriage neutrality"). Existing treatments of this...

Empirical studies of corporate governance address potential endogeneity problems, but fail to place endogeneity in the context of a model and ignore the possibility of disparate treatment effects across companies. This paper tackles these defects. The model and analysis in the paper demonstrate...

While much has been made of quot;shareholder democracyquot; as a lever of corporate governance, there is little evidence about the efficacy of voting. This paper empirically examines votes on management-sponsored resolutions and finds widespread irregularities in the distribution of votes...

Much of corporate law consists of non-mandatory statutes. While scholars have examined the effect of non-binding corporate law from a theoretical perspective, almost no studies explore the real-world impact of these laws. This paper empirically examines the impact of non-mandatory state...

Many firms have filed for bankruptcy to manage liabilities stemming from mass tort claims, most notably asbestos producers. This paper develops a model of an optimal bankruptcy procedure that balances the need to provide liquidity to the present claimants already injured with the need to set...