The paper innovates on the existing optimal taxation literature by taking fertility as endogenous, and allowing for households to be differentiated by their ability to raise children, as well as by their ability to raise income. In a context where the government cannot observe personal...

Chapter 1. Standard optimal taxation with single agents: what it is and what to use in its place -- Chapter 2. Optimal taxation in the presence of household production -- Chapter 3. Income taxation with two-person households -- Chapter 4. Income taxation and public spending with two-person...

We consider the optimal determination of family allowances in a model where some of the parents have higher ability to raise children than others. First-best policy gives both types of parents the same level of utility. If neither parental ability nor parental actions are fully observable,...