Whether observed differences in redistributive policies across countries are the result ofdifferences in social preferences or efficiency constraints is an important question that pavesthe debate about the optimality of welfare regimes. To shed new light on this question, weestimate labor supply...

We study several popular monetary models which generate a non-degenerate stationary distribution of money holdings. Across these environments, our principal finding is as follows: a monetary policy that sets long run nominal interest rates to zero (the Friedman rule) does not typically maximize...

To assess the impact of tax-benefit policy changes on income distribution over time, wesuggest a methodology based on counterfactual simulations. We start by decomposingchanges in inequality/poverty indices into three contributions: reforms of the tax-benefitstructure (rules, rates, etc.),...

This paper examines the implications of income redistribution from men to women for the welfareof married women and children. We develop a Cournot model of a two-person household whereagents provide market labor and allocate their spending between a private consumption good andgoods for children...

Trade unions have been successful in compressing the wage distributionbut not in influencing the share of national income going to labour. This paperclaims that a compressed wage distribution provides insurance in the same way thatthe tax and benefit system does and thus may be...

The Polish tax and benefit system is presented in the context of a recently developedmicrosimulation model, SIMPL. The model allows simulating direct taxes, social contributionsand public benefits in Poland for the years 2003 and 2005...>br>

There is clear evidence that fairness plays a role in redistribution. Individuals want tocompensate others for their misfortune, while they allow them to enjoy the fruits of their effort.Such fairness considerations have been introduced in political economy and optimal incometax models with a...

As the link between tax compliance and tax morale is found to be robust, finding thedeterminants of tax morale can help to understand and fight tax evasion. In this paper weanalyze the effect of progressive taxation on tax morale in a cross-country approach – whichhas not been investigated...