This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. Journal of Economic Literature
  4. September 2012
  5. The Mirrlees Review

Journal of Economic Literature

ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)

The Mirrlees Review

  • Martin Feldstein
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 50, no. 3, September 2012
(pp. 781–90)
Download Full Text PDF

Abstract

The Mirrlees Review is an ambitious and comprehensive analysis of the British tax system with detailed recommendations for reform. This review essay focuses on those issues that are also likely to be of interest to an American reader. The Review has the technical sophistication that readers would expect from a team of ten economists, chaired by James Mirrlees, the distinguished theorist who received the Nobel Prize for his contributions to the theory of optimal taxation. But it is written for a broader audience, explaining concepts like deadweight loss and the elasticity of tax revenue with respect to tax rates and doing so without any mathematics. (JEL D64, E21, E62, H24, H25)

Citation

Feldstein, Martin. 2012. "The Mirrlees Review." Journal of Economic Literature, 50 (3): 781–90. DOI: 10.1257/jel.50.3.781

JEL Classification

  • D64 Altruism; Philanthropy
  • E21 Macroeconomics: Consumption; Saving; Wealth
  • E62 Fiscal Policy
  • H24 Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes
  • H25 Business Taxes and Subsidies including sales and value-added (VAT)