We study optimal income tax progressivity in an environment where individuals are exposed to idiosyncratic income and health risks over the lifecycle. Our results, based on a calibration for the US economy, indicate that the presence of health risk combined with incomplete insurance markets...

We investigate whether late redistribution programs that can be targeted towards low income families, but may distort savings decisions, can ldquo;dominaterdquo; early redistribution programs that cannot be targeted due to information constraints. We use simple two-period OLG models with...

We study the optimal progressivity of income taxation in a Bewley-Grossman model of health capital accumulation where individuals are exposed to earnings and health risks over the lifecycle. We impose the U.S. tax and transfer system and calibrate the model to match U.S. data. We then optimize...