Abstract: Matthew C. Weinzierl Thesis Advisors: Professor Aleh Tsyvinski (chair) Professor N. Gregory Mankiw Professor Caroline M. Hoxby Essays in Optimal Taxation This thesis consists of four essays that span a wide range of topics in, and perspectives on, the dominant modern framework for optimal taxation research. The rst analyzes a potential tax reform based on this framework: age-dependent taxation. Using modern dynamic optimal tax methods, I provide a comprehensive theoretical and quantitative examination of age dependence and compare it to two alternative policies: an age-independent policy and a dynamic optimal policy. Despite its simplicity, age dependence yields a large welfare gain equal to between one and three percent of aggregate annual consumption, and it captures a substantial portion of the gain from reform to the dynamic optimal policy. The second incorporates a factor into this framework that is generally neglected: preference heterogeneity. I avoid technical dif culties that arise with preference heterogeneity in general by focusing on a speci c but important class of
Publication Year: 2008
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 2
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