Insurance aspects of tax policies are studied in a simple intertemporal general equilibrium model in which agents are uncertain about both the future wage rates and the rate of return on capital. Taxation and lump-sum subsidy policies generally reduce employment, output, and the capital stock...

The authors study an economy where externalities provide an explicit role for intervention and technology shocks generate aggregate uncertainty. In laissez-faire there is too much unemployment. However, the authors show how to support the optimal allocation as a decentralized equilibrium using a...

We study the effects of distortionary labor taxation on endogenous cycles and the indeterminacy of equilibria in an overlapping-generations model with a balanced-budget rule. Under proportional taxation there is a critical tax rate above which cycles vanish, while with linearly progressive...

Evidence supports the notion that those who grow up to be patient do better than those who do not. Parents can inculcate the virtue of delayed gratification in their children by taking the right actions. We study a model in which parents, for selfish reasons, invest resources to raise patient...