The package of increases in defined-contribution pension plan contribution limits that Congress enacted in 2001 could have benefited at most 8 percent of plan participants and 3 percent of all workers. High earners were potentially more likely to benefit than low earners, and potential beneficiaries generally had higher earnings than other participants. The increase in the percentage limit on c...

Previous research into the relationship between income inequality and turnout has produced mixed results, as consensus is lacking whether reduces for all groups, low-income earners, or no one. Therefore, this paper builds on literature by introducing supply-side logic, through first individual-level test of impact that (moderated policy manifesto positions) turnout. It does so multilevel logist...

This paper is concerned with distributive aspects of crucial economic and institutional reforms experienced by earners of several income sources in Uruguay after the late eighties. These reforms involved both the labor market and the pensions system, and we provide empirical evidence about the different way they affected the distribution of income. The distribution of income across all earners ...

Abstract We design a parsimonious spatial equilibrium model featuring workers embodied with heterogeneous skills and non-homothetic preferences. In equilibrium, locations improved commuting access become relatively more attractive to high-income earners. empirically analyse the effects of construction Swiss highway network between 1960 2010 on population size composition municipalities. find th...

We study optimal redistributive policies in a frictional model of the labor market. Ex-ante heterogeneous agents choose how much to search in a labor market characterized by a matching technology. We first derive efficiency results and provide policies to decentralize the optimal allocation. We then solve the mechanism design problem of a government with redistributive motives and limited infor...

This paper use income tax return data from 1960 to 2000 to analyze the link between reported incomes and marginal tax rates. Only the top 1% incomes show evidence of behavioral responses to taxation. The data displays striking heterogeneity in the size of responses to tax changes overtime, with no response either short-term or long-term for the very large Kennedy top rate cuts in the early1960s...

OBJECTIVE Food insecurity, lack of access to food due to financial constraints, is highly associated with poor health outcomes. Households dependent on social assistance are at increased risk of experiencing food insecurity, but food insecurity has also been reported in households reporting their main source of income from employment/wages (working households). The objective of the present stud...

When product markets are monopolistic, an income redistributive policy affects social welfare not only through changes in disposable income but also through changes in product prices. In the optimal income tax formula, we then obtain a Pigouvian term correcting for this price externality. We provide sufficient conditions when the Pigouvian term is progressive among top earners. Moreover, if the...