The authors investigate the desirability of income taxes when the objective is to mitigate wasteful conspicuous consumption generated by people's status-seeking behavior. They consider the joint role of pre-tax wage inequality and of social norms determining how social status is assigned. They...

A number of recent studies suggest that flat rate taxes may have important effects on long-run growth in the neoclassical growth model with human capital. In contrast to the traditional human capital literature, these studies assume that agents are infinitely lived and face constant returns in...

A number of recent studies suggest that flat rate taxes may have important effects on long-run growth in the neoclassical growth model with human capital. In contrast to the traditional human capital literature, these studies assume that agents are infinitely lived and face constant returns in...

This paper discusses three alternative assumptions concerning household preferences (altruism, self-interest, and a desire for dynasty building) and shows that these assumptions have very different implications for bequest motives and bequest division. After reviewing some of the literature on...

This paper presents a brief exposition of three theoretical models of household behavior and shows that these models have very different implications for bequest motives and bequest division, surveys previous empirical studies on bequest motives and bequest division, presents unique survey data...

This paper presents a generalized model of overlapping generations with economic aging of households. Economic age is defined as a set of personal attributes such as earnings potential and tastes that are characteristic of a person's position in the life-cycle. We separate the concepts of...

This paper studies quantitative importance of accidental versus intended bequests. Bequests are decomposed into accidental and intended components by comparing the implications of a standard life-cycle model under alternative assumptions about bequest motives. The main finding is that accidental...

This paper presents a model where aggregate consumption depends on both the level of wealth and the age structure of population. The explicit consideration of an endogenous rate of time preference permits to analyze the important role of population ageing as a determinant of aggregate saving

This chapter is concerned with the distribution of personal wealth, which usually refers to the material assets that can be sold in the marketpace, although on occasion pension rights are also included. We summarise the available evidence on wealth distribution for a number of countries. This...