The main focus of this paper is on the potential role that taxation and public expenditure policies play in general in affecting income distribution. We find that progressive personal income taxes and corporate income taxes reduce income inequality. The effect of corporate income taxes seems to...

This paper documents the integration of microsimulation tools for direct taxation, indirect taxation, and social benefits in the context of the European tax and benefit simulator, EUROMOD. Integration has been developed parallely for the two countries, Belgium and Germany. The paper at hand...

This paper evaluates a novel form of fiscal stimulus: a temporary cut in the rate of Value Added Tax (VAT). In December 2008, the UK cut the standard rate of VAT by 2.5 percentage points for 13 months in an effort to stimulate spending. We estimate the effect of the cut on prices and spending...

This paper suggests a methodology to identify socially-desirable directions for poverty-alleviating tax reforms. The cost-benefit ratio of increasing any commodity-tax rate is derived from the minimization of a poverty measure subject to a revenue requirement for the government. Further, to...

This brief essay, appearing in a regular column on "Teaching Health Law," describes the author's experience using the Michael Moore film, "Sicko," in the classroom. Students were assigned to watch the film and discuss relevant legal rules and policy issues in health care financing, health care...

This study formulates a theoretical framework to shed light on why cash grants fail to increase parental investment in child education, and what can be done to increase their effectiveness. The paper asserts that consumption vulnerability, loss aversion, and information friction render lump-sum...

Bankruptcy scholars generally agree that consumer bankruptcy functions, at least in part, as a form of social insurance. It does so by allowing individuals to discharge unsecured debts that they incur and cannot pay as a result of the occurrence of one or more particular events or circumstances....

Federal tax law has long provided a tax benefit for charitable contributions of easements for conservation purposes. A fundamental problem with this conservation easement tax expenditure is that the measure for the tax benefit – lost economic development value – is erroneous. Use of such an...

The main objective of this research is to analyze the effects of the fiscal dimension of China’s government transfer and preferential tax policy on regional income disparity and poverty reduction. Using a computable general equilibrium model with a three-region component, we find that the...

The global food price shock of 2006-2008 has particularly affected poorer strata of populations in several developing countries. In Egypt and some other countries it has put food subsidy schemes to the test. This paper develops two comparable computable general equilibrium models for Egypt and...