IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jpbect/v18y2016i1p1-28.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Constrained Inefficiency and Optimal Taxation with Uninsurable Risks

Author

Listed:
  • PIERO GOTTARDI
  • ATSUSHI KAJII
  • TOMOYUKI NAKAJIMA

Abstract

When individuals' labor and capital income are subject to uninsurable idiosyncratic risks, should capital and labor be taxed, and if so, how? In a two-period general equilibrium model with production, we derive a decomposition formula of the welfare effects of these taxes into insurance and distribution effects. This method allows us to determine how the sign of the optimal taxes on capital and labor depends on the nature of the shocks, the degree of heterogeneity among consumers' income, and the way in which the tax revenue is used to provide lump sum transfers to consumers. When shocks affect primarily labor income and heterogeneity is small, the optimal tax on capital is positive. However, in other cases, a negative tax on capital improves welfare.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Piero Gottardi & Atsushi Kajii & Tomoyuki Nakajima, 2016. "Constrained Inefficiency and Optimal Taxation with Uninsurable Risks," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 18(1), pages 1-28, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jpbect:v:18:y:2016:i:1:p:1-28
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/jpet.2016.18.issue-1
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julio Dávila & Jay H. Hong & Per Krusell & José‐Víctor Ríos‐Rull, 2012. "Constrained Efficiency in the Neoclassical Growth Model With Uninsurable Idiosyncratic Shocks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(6), pages 2431-2467, November.
    2. Chari, V.V. & Kehoe, Patrick J., 1999. "Optimal fiscal and monetary policy," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 26, pages 1671-1745, Elsevier.
    3. N. Gregory Mankiw & Matthew Weinzierl & Danny Yagan, 2009. "Optimal Taxation in Theory and Practice," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 23(4), pages 147-174, Fall.
    4. Chamley, Christophe, 1986. "Optimal Taxation of Capital Income in General Equilibrium with Infinite Lives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 607-622, May.
    5. Piero Gottardi & Atsushi Kajii & Tomoyuki Nakajima, 2010. "Optimal taxation and constrained inefficiency in an infinite-horizon economy with incomplete markets," KIER Working Papers 745, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    6. Aiyagari, S Rao, 1995. "Optimal Capital Income Taxation with Incomplete Markets, Borrowing Constraints, and Constant Discounting," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(6), pages 1158-1175, December.
    7. Judd, Kenneth L., 1985. "Redistributive taxation in a simple perfect foresight model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 59-83, October.
    8. repec:cor:louvrp:-2463 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Atsushi Kajii & Antonio Villanacci & Alessandro Citanna, 1998. "Constrained suboptimality in incomplete markets: a general approach and two applications," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 11(3), pages 495-521.
    10. John K.-H Quah, 2007. "The Comparative Statics of Constrained Optimization Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(2), pages 401-431, March.
    11. Hart, Oliver D., 1975. "On the optimality of equilibrium when the market structure is incomplete," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 418-443, December.
    12. George-Marios Angeletos, 2007. "Uninsured Idiosyncratic Investment Risk and Aggregate Saving," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-30, January.
    13. Lars Ljungqvist & Thomas J. Sargent, 2004. "Recursive Macroeconomic Theory, 2nd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 026212274x, April.
    14. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1982. "The Inefficiency of the Stock Market Equilibrium," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 49(2), pages 241-261.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sigrid Röhrs & Christoph Winter, 2011. "Wealth inequality and the optimal level of government debt," ECON - Working Papers 051, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    2. Marco Bassetto & Wei Cui, 2024. "A Ramsey Theory of Financial Distortions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(8), pages 2612-2654.
    3. Shuichi Tsugawa, 2024. "Optimal redistributive policy under disaster risk: self-protection, social mitigation and social adaptation," Working Papers e203, Tokyo Center for Economic Research.
    4. Acikgoz, Omer, 2013. "Transitional Dynamics and Long-run Optimal Taxation Under Incomplete Markets," MPRA Paper 50160, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Li, Meng, 2023. "Loss aversion and inefficient general equilibrium over the business cycle," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    6. Nakajima, Tomoyuki & Takahashi, Shuhei, 2017. "The optimum quantity of debt for Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 17-26.
    7. YiLi Chien & Yi Wen, 2022. "Optimal Ramsey Taxation in Heterogeneous Agent Economies with Quasi-Linear Preferences," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 46, pages 124-160, October.
    8. Piero Gottardi & Atsushi Kajii & Tomoyuki Nakajima, 2010. "Optimal taxation and constrained inefficiency in an infinite-horizon economy with incomplete markets," KIER Working Papers 745, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    9. Piero Gottardi & Atsushi Kajii & Tomoyuki Nakajima, 2015. "Optimal Taxation and Debt with Uninsurable Risks to Human Capital Accumulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(11), pages 3443-3470, November.
    10. Hisahiro Naito, 2018. "Welfare-improving Consumption Tax in the Presence of Wage Tax under Idiosyncratic Returns from Investment and Incomplete Markets," Tsukuba Economics Working Papers 2018-002, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba.
    11. Jaimes, Richard, 2023. "Does idiosyncratic risk matter for climate policy?," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(4), pages 353-367, August.
    12. Ando, Sakai & Matsumura, Misaki, 2020. "Constrained inefficiency of competitive entrepreneurship," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 98-103.
    13. HIRAGUCHI Ryoji, 2023. "Optimal Government Debt Policy in the Overlapping Generations Model with Idiosyncratic Capital Return Risk," Discussion papers 23063, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    14. Sakai Ando, 2017. "Size-Dependent Policies and Efficient Firm Creation," ISER Discussion Paper 1033, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University, revised Jun 2018.
    15. Yena Park, 2014. "Constrained Efficiency in a Risky Human Capital Model," RCER Working Papers 585, University of Rochester - Center for Economic Research (RCER).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Piero Gottardi & Atsushi Kajii & Tomoyuki Nakajima, 2015. "Optimal Taxation and Debt with Uninsurable Risks to Human Capital Accumulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(11), pages 3443-3470, November.
    2. Boháček, Radim & Kejak, Michal, 2018. "Optimal government policies in models with heterogeneous agents," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 834-858.
    3. Panousi, Vasia, 2009. "Capital Taxation with Entrepreneurial Risk," MPRA Paper 24237, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Till Gross, 2013. "Capital Taxation, Intermediate Goods, and Production Efficiency," Carleton Economic Papers 13-09, Carleton University, Department of Economics.
    5. Hiraguchi, Ryoji & Shibata, Akihisa, 2015. "Taxing capital is a good idea: The role of idiosyncratic risk in an OLG model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 258-269.
    6. Yili Chien & Junsang Lee, 2006. "Why Tax Capital?," 2006 Meeting Papers 492, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Woodland, A., 2016. "Taxation, Pensions, and Demographic Change," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 713-780, Elsevier.
    8. Chari, V.V. & Nicolini, Juan Pablo & Teles, Pedro, 2020. "Optimal capital taxation revisited," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 147-165.
    9. Piero Gottardi & Atsushi Kajii & Tomoyuki Nakajima, 2010. "Optimal taxation and constrained inefficiency in an infinite-horizon economy with incomplete markets," KIER Working Papers 745, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    10. Vasia Panousi, 2008. "Capital Taxation with Entrepreneurial Risk," 2008 Meeting Papers 36, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Dirk Krueger, 2006. "Public Insurance against Idiosyncratic and Aggregate Risk: The Case of Social Security and Progressive Income Taxation," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 52(4), pages 587-620, December.
    12. YiLi Chien & JunSang Lee, 2006. "Optimal Capital Taxation under Limited Commitment," 2006 Meeting Papers 430, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    13. Till Gross, 2013. "Capital Tax Competition and Dynamic Optimal Taxation," Carleton Economic Papers 13-08, Carleton University, Department of Economics.
    14. Mathias Trabandt, 2006. "Optimal Pre-Announced Tax Reforms Under Valuable And Productive Government Spending," 2006 Meeting Papers 668, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    15. Kazunobu Muro, 2013. "Optimal labor income taxation in a two-sector dynamic general equilibrium model," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 60(1), pages 21-48, March.
    16. George Economides & Anastasios Rizos, 2021. "Optimal taxation: full-commitment versus time-consistent equilibrium," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 717-753, August.
    17. Chien, YiLi & Wen, Yi, 2023. "Optimal fiscal policy under capital overaccumulation," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(6), pages 1706-1736, September.
    18. Masaaki Suzuki, 2014. "Debates on Individual Income Tax and Potential Japanese Tax Reforms," Public Policy Review, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance Japan, vol. 10(3), pages 371-396, October.
    19. YiLi Chien & Junsang Lee, 2016. "Optimal Ramsey Capital Taxation with Endogenous Government Spending," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 98(4), pages 311-327.
    20. Sebastian Dyrda & Marcelo Pedroni, 2015. "Optimal Fiscal Policy in a Model with Uninsurable Idiosyncratic Shocks," Working Papers tecipa-550, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D52 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Incomplete Markets
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jpbect:v:18:y:2016:i:1:p:1-28. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/apettea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.