American Economic Journal:
Macroeconomics
ISSN 1945-7707 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7715 (Online)
Optimal Taxation with Risky Human Capital
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics
vol. 11,
no. 4, October 2019
(pp. 271–309)
Abstract
We study optimal tax policies in a life-cycle economy with permanent ability differences and risky human capital investments that have both an unobservable component, learning effort, and an observable component, schooling. The optimal policies balance redistribution across agents, insurance against human capital shocks, and incentives to learn and work. In the optimum, (i) high-ability agents face risky consumption while low-ability agents are insured; (ii) the optimal schooling subsidy is substantial but less than 100 percent; (iii) if utility is separable in labor and learning effort, the inverse labor wedge follows a random walk; and (iv) if the utility is not separable then the "no distortion at the top" result does not apply. The welfare gains from switching to the optimal tax system are about 1 percent in annual consumption equivalents.Citation
Kapička, Marek, and Julian Neira. 2019. "Optimal Taxation with Risky Human Capital." American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 11 (4): 271–309. DOI: 10.1257/mac.20160365Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D15 Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
- H21 Taxation and Subsidies: Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
- H24 Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes
- I26 Returns to Education
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
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