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Redistributive Taxation in a Partial Insurance Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Kjetil Storesletten

    (FRB Minneapolis)

  • Gianluca Violante

    (NYU)

  • Jonathan Heathcote

    (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis)

Abstract

We explore the optimal progressivity of the income tax system in an incomplete-markets model. Agents value private and public consumption and leisure, and are heterogeneous with respect to innate ability, idiosyncratic shock histories, and preferences. This heterogeneity generates a potential role for public insurance. Agents make education and labor supply choices, save in a risk-free bond, and are able to insure a subset of idiosyncratic risks privately. Equilibrium allocations and social welfare are characterized in closed form, which illuminates the various trade-offs in favor of more or less progressive taxation. In a calibration to the United States, we find that the actual US tax and transfer system is more progressive than the one that maximizes social welfare for a utilitarian planner.

Suggested Citation

  • Kjetil Storesletten & Gianluca Violante & Jonathan Heathcote, 2012. "Redistributive Taxation in a Partial Insurance Economy," 2012 Meeting Papers 588, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed012:588
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    Cited by:

    1. Del Negro, Marco & Perri, Fabrizio & Schivardi, Fabiano, 2010. "Tax buyouts," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(5), pages 576-595, July.
      • Marco Del Negro & Fabrizio Perri & Fabiano Schivardi, 2010. "Tax Buyouts," EIEF Working Papers Series 1007, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised Mar 2010.
      • Marco Del Negro & Fabrizio Perri & Fabiano Schivardi, 2010. "Tax buyouts," Staff Report 441, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
      • Marco Del Negro & Fabrizio Perri & Fabiano Schivardi, 2010. "Tax buyouts," Staff Reports 467, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
      • Marco Del Negro & Fabrizio Perri & Fabiano Schivardi, 2010. "Tax buyouts," NBER Working Papers 15847, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Bagchi, Shantanu, 2016. "Is The Social Security Crisis Really As Bad As We Think?," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 737-776, April.
    3. Bagchi, Shantanu, 2015. "Labor supply and the optimality of Social Security," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 167-185.
    4. Brinca, Pedro & Holter, Hans A. & Krusell, Per & Malafry, Laurence, 2016. "Fiscal multipliers in the 21st century," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 53-69.
    5. Trabandt, Mathias & Uhlig, Harald, 2011. "The Laffer curve revisited," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 305-327.
    6. Bagchi, Shantanu, 2019. "Differential mortality and the progressivity of social security," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Ctirad Slavík & Hakki Yazici, 2019. "On the consequences of eliminating capital tax differentials," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(1), pages 225-252, February.
    8. Alexander Ludwig & Dirk Krueger, 2015. "Optimal Capital and Progressive Labor Income Taxation with Endogenous Schooling Decisions and Intergenerational Transfers," 2015 Meeting Papers 334, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    9. Krueger, Dirk & Ludwig, Alexander, 2013. "On the Optimal Provision of Social Insurance," MEA discussion paper series 201302, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    10. Alexander Ludwig & Dirk Krueger, 2010. "Optimal Progressive Taxation and Education Subsidies in a Model of Endogenous Human Capital Formation," 2010 Meeting Papers 388, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Rong Hai, 2013. "The Determinants of Rising Inequality in Health Insurance and Wages, Second Version," PIER Working Paper Archive 13-071, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, revised 21 Dec 2013.
    12. Jana Kremer & Nikolai Stähler, 2016. "Structural and Cyclical Effects of Tax Progression," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 72(1), pages 41-73, March.
    13. Rong Hai, 2013. "The Determinants of Rising Inequality in Health Insurance and Wages: An Equilibrium Model of Workers' Compensation and Health Care Policies," PIER Working Paper Archive 13-019, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    14. Rong Hai, 2013. "The Determinants of Rising Inequality in Health Insurance and Wages," Working Papers 2013-007, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    15. Markus Poschke & Baris Kaymak, 2015. "The evolution of wealth inequality over half a century: the role of skills, taxes and institutions," 2015 Meeting Papers 967, Society for Economic Dynamics.

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