When tax structure changes, people may alter their consumption basket, but they also may call and give new instructions to their accountant, change their reports to the IRS, change the timing of transactions, and undertake a range of other actions that do not directly involve a change in their...

The efficiency cost of capital misallocations between the corporate sector and the noncorporate sector is typically measured using statutory tax differences. Corporate-source income tax compliance is high because of third party reporting, however, while noncorporate rental income tax compliance...

This paper studies the welfare effects of international investment to evade domestic taxes on domestic investment income. Capital mobility for tax evasion eliminates distortions in the intertemporal allocation of consumption, but introduces distortions in domestic production. Conversely, a...

This paper uses time-series data to investigate how changes in capital gains tax rates affect taxpayer compliance. It finds that a one percent increase in the marginal tax rate reduces voluntary compliance by between one half and one percent. These results confirm the findings of previous...

This paper attempts to estimate the size and distribution of tax evasion in rich countries. We combine random audits--the key source used to study tax evasion so far--with new micro-data leaked from large offshore financial institutions--HSBC Switzerland ("Swiss leaks") and Mossack Fonseca...

Educators worry that high-stakes testing will induce teachers and their students to focus only on the test and ignore other, untested aspects of knowledge. Some counter that although this may be true, knowing something is better than knowing nothing and many students would benefit even by...

Many federal and local governments rely on shaming penalties to achieve policy goals, but little is known about how shaming works. Such penalties may be ineffective, or even backfire by crowding out intrinsic motivation. In this paper, we study shaming in the context of the collection of tax...

A large literature explores crowd out in situations where public goods are jointly provided; work in this area typically depicts a tax system where individuals take taxes as given. But in some settings, such as those in developing economies, efforts to evade or avoid taxes may be widespread. Using...

This paper addresses the puzzle of regime-dependent volatility in foreign exchange. We extend the literature in two ways. First, our microstructural model provides a qualitatively new explanation for the puzzle. Second, we test implications of our model using Europe's recent shift to rigidly...

The theory of international macroeconomics shows that domestic tax policy in a global economy affects foreign economic conditions via complex, dynamic interactions through relative prices, tax revenues, and wealth distribution. This paper proposes a tractable quantitative framework for assessing...