This paper develops distribution-free statistical inference procedures to test for changes in tax progressivity. Tests for both the Reynolds-Smolensky index of residual progression and the Kakwani index of liability progression are provided. Changes in tax progressivity in three Western...

Inference-based stochastic dominance procedures are applied to Luxembourg Income Study data to rank ten western countries in terms of standards of living and poverty. First-order dominance comparisons ranks more than 50 percent of all pairwise comparisons and second-order (generalized Lorenz)...

Typically, the study of post-war convergence has primarily focused on convergence in per capita incomes. By investigating convergence at population class means we can characterize convergence as either "equal" or "unequal" depending upon whether the (inverse) income distribution functions are...

The reductions in the top marginal rates during the 1980's have renewed interest in the relationship between the underreporting of income and the marginal tax rates. Unfortunately, theory provides no clear answer to question of whether lower marginal tax rates reduce or increase the size of the...

Recent advances in the evaluation of the economic well-being are applied to assess the status of elderly Americans in the 1980s and 1990s. Micro data for the elderly and nonelderly populations are analyzed using stochastic dominance. A distinguishing feature of the research is that it goes...

Inference based dominance methods are applied to entire distributions of micro data from two food stamp cashout experiments in Alabama and San Diego, California. First-order dominance comparisons reveal no statistically significant differences between coupon and cash recipients in food...