-
作者：Seim, David
作者单位：Stockholm University; Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)
摘要：This paper provides an empirical assessment of an annual wealth tax. Using Swedish administrative data, I estimate net-of-tax-rate elasticities of taxable wealth in the range [0.09, 0.27]. Cross-checking self-reported assets against asset data unavailable to the tax agency reveals that around a third of the elasticity estimates are due to underreporting of asset values. Difference-in-difference designs further suggest that the responses reflect evasion and avoidance rather than changes in savi...
-
作者：Fuster, Andreas; Willen, Paul S.
作者单位：Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - New York; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Boston; National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要：This paper studies the treatment effect of monthly payment size on mortgage default, using a sample of adjustable-rate loans that experienced large payment reductions thanks to the recent low interest rate environment. Payment size has an economically large effect on repayment behavior; for instance, cutting the required payment in half reduces the delinquency hazard by about 55 percent. Importantly, the link between payment size and delinquency is equally strong for borrowers that are signifi...
-
作者：Fletcher, Jason; Marksteiner, Ryne
作者单位：University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison
摘要：Current methods of cost effectiveness analysis implicitly assume zero spillovers among social ties. This can underestimate the benefits of health interventions and misallocate resources toward interventions with lower comprehensive effects. We discuss the implications of social spillovers for program evaluation and document the first evidence of causal spillovers of health behaviors between spouses by leveraging experimental data from the Lung Health Study (smoking) and COMBINE Study (drinking...
-
作者：Agarwal, Sumit; Marwell, Nathan; McGranahan, Leslie
作者单位：Georgetown University; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Chicago
摘要：States offer sales tax holidays (STHs) temporarily exempting items like clothes, shoes, and school supplies from the state sales tax. Spending response to these temporary tax changes are investigated using two datasets: the Diary portion of the Consumer Expenditure Survey and a unique dataset of credit card transactions. Results based on a difference-in-differences methodology show that there are substantial increases in spending on covered goods during these holidays that are not offset by de...
-
作者：Feler, Leo; Senses, Mine Z.
作者单位：Boston Consulting Group (BCG); Johns Hopkins University
摘要：We analyze the impact of trade-induced income shocks on the size of local government and the provision of public services. Areas in the United States with declining labor demand and incomes due to increasing import competition from China experience relative declines in housing prices and business activity. Since local governments are disproportionately funded through property and sales taxation, declining property values and a decrease in economic activity translate into less revenue, which co...
-
作者：Hortacsu, Ali; Madanizadeh, Seyed Ali; Puller, Steven L.
作者单位：University of Chicago; Texas A&M University System; Texas A&M University College Station
摘要：Many jurisdictions around the world have deregulated utilities and opened retail markets to competition. However, inertial decision making can diminish consumer benefits of retail competition. Using household-level data from the Texas residential electricity market, we document evidence of consumer inertia. We estimate an econometric model of retail choice to measure two sources of inertia: search frictions/inattention and a brand advantage that consumers afford the incumbent. We find that hou...
-
作者：Hyman, Joshua
摘要：This paper measures the effect of increased primary school spending on students' college enrollment and completion. Using student-level panel administrative data, I exploit variation in the school funding formula imposed by Michigan's 1994 school finance reform, Proposal A. Students exposed to $1,000 (10 percent) more spending were 3 percentage points (7 percent) more likely to enroll in college and 2.3 percentage points (11 percent) more likely to earn a postsecondary degree. The effects were...
-
作者：Lawson, Nicholas
作者单位：University of Quebec; University of Quebec Montreal
摘要：A common finding of the optimal unemployment insurance (UI) literature is that the optimal replacement rate is around 50 percent; however, a key assumption is that UI is the only government spending activity. I show that optimal UI levels may be dramatically reduced when UI is a small part of overall spending: the negative impact of UI on income tax revenues implies added welfare costs, a mechanism that I call a fiscal externality. Using both a standard calibrated structural job search model a...
-
作者：Lawson, Nicholas
作者单位：University of Quebec; University of Quebec Montreal
摘要：A large literature focuses on two important rationales for government subsidies to college students: positive fiscal externalities from a larger tax base, and liquidity constraints. This paper provides a first attempt to gauge the relative importance of these mechanisms. I use US data in combination with two modeling approaches: calibration of a simple structural model of human capital accumulation, and a sufficient statistics approach. The resulting optimal subsidies are larger than median pu...
-
作者：Bown, Chad P.; Reynolds, Kara M.
作者单位：Peterson Institute for International Economics; American University
摘要：This paper examines implications of the terms-of-trade theory for the determinants of outcomes arising under the enforcement provisions of international agreements. Like original trade agreement negotiations, formal trade dispute negotiations are modeled as potentially addressing the terms-of-trade externality problem that governments implement import protection above the globally efficient level so as to shift some of the policy's costs onto trading partners. The approach first extends the Ba...
