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Making Bequests Without Spoiling Children: Bequests as an Implicit Optimal Tax Structure and the Possibility That Altruistic Bequests are not Equaliz

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  • Laurence J. Kotlikoff
  • Assaf Razin

Abstract

This paper examines the bequest\gift behavior of altruistic parents who do not know their children's abilities and cannot observe their children's work effort. Parents are likely to respond to this information problem by making larger bequests to higher earning children and by using their transfers implicitly either to tax at the margin low earning children or to subsidize at the margin high earning children. These implicit tax rates may be quite large, despite the fact that total transfers are small. The paper suggests that labor supply studies should take into account potential implicit family taxation as wall as official government taxation. In addition, the fact that the family may play an implicit role in taxation means that there may be less need for the government to play such a role.

Suggested Citation

  • Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Assaf Razin, 1988. "Making Bequests Without Spoiling Children: Bequests as an Implicit Optimal Tax Structure and the Possibility That Altruistic Bequests are not Equaliz," NBER Working Papers 2735, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2735
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1987. "Pareto efficient and optimal taxation and the new new welfare economics," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 15, pages 991-1042, Elsevier.
    2. J. A. Mirrlees, 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(2), pages 175-208.
    3. Feldstein, Martin, 1988. "The Effects of Fiscal Policies when Incomes Are Uncertain: A Contradiction to Ricardian Equivalence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 14-23, March.
    4. Efraim Sadka, 1976. "On Income Distribution, Incentive Effects and Optimal Income Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 43(2), pages 261-267.
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    Cited by:

    1. Altonji, Joseph G & Hayashi, Fumio & Kotlikoff, Laurence J, 1992. "Is the Extended Family Altruistically Linked? Direct Tests Using Micro Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(5), pages 1177-1198, December.
    2. Ctirad Slavik & Kevin Wiseman, 2018. "Tough Love for Lazy Kids: Dynamic Insurance and Equal Bequests," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 27, pages 64-80, January.
    3. Ernesto Villanueva, 2001. "Parental altruism under imperfect information: Theory and evidence," Economics Working Papers 566, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Sep 2002.
    4. Yuta Saito & Yosuke Takeda, 2022. "Capital taxation with parental incentives," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(6), pages 1310-1341, December.
    5. Chami, Ralph & Fischer, Jeffrey H., 2000. "Do private income transfers increase labor market risk?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 143-151, November.
    6. Ayşegül Şahin, 2004. "The incentive effects of higher education subsidies on student effort," Staff Reports 192, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

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