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Endogenous Fertility and the Design of Family Taxation

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Author Info
Alessandro Balestrino
Alessandro Cigno ()
Anna Pettini

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Abstract

The paper innovates on the existing optimal taxation literature by taking fertility as endogenous, and allowing for households to be differentiated by their ability to raise children, as well as by their ability to raise income. In a context where the government cannot observe personal abilities, fertility behaviour conveys a great deal of information about those characteristics, which helps to relax the self-selection constraints on re-distribution. Bi-dimentional household differentiation introduces the possibility that re-distribution will be from households with low utility to households with high utility, and that it may be optimal to accentuate or reverse the sign of laissez-faire utility inequality. Contrary to popular belief, we find that it is not necessarily optimal for the tax system to be so designed that an additional child would lighten the tax burden on his or her parents. If it is, the optimal policy may include an unusual mix of taxes on number of children, subsidies on child-specific commodities, income support for low-wage households, and positive marginal income tax rates for all. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2002

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal International Tax and Public Finance.

Volume (Year): 9 (2002)
Issue (Month): 2 (March)
Pages: 175-193
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Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:9:y:2002:i:2:p:175-193

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Web page: http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=102915

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Related research
Keywords: optimal direct and indirect taxation; endogenous fertility; comparative advantage; self-selection; child benefits;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Beaudry, Paul & Blackorby, 1997. "Taxes and employment subsidies in an optimal redistribution program," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 9709, CEPREMAP.
  2. Atkinson, A. B. & Stiglitz, J. E., 1976. "The design of tax structure: Direct versus indirect taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 55-75. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Beaudry, Paul & Blackorby, Charles, 2006. "Taxes and Employment Subsidies in Optimal Redistribution Programs," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 766, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Seade, Jesus, 1982. "On the Sign of the Optimum Marginal Income Tax," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(4), pages 637-43, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Nerlove, Marc & Razin, Assaf & Sadka, Efraim, 1993. "Children: A Capital Good or a Base for Income Redistribution Policies," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 48(Supplemen), pages 78-84.
  6. Robin Boadway & Michael Keen, 1999. "Redistribution," Working Papers 983, Queen's University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
    • Boadway, Robin & Keen, Michael, 2000. "Redistribution," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 677-789 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Cigno, Alessandro & Pettini, Anna, 2002. "Taxing family size and subsidizing child-specific commodities?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 75-90, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Dan Anderberg & Alessandro Balestrino, 2000. "Household Production and the Design of the Tax Structure," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 563-584, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Balestrino. Allessandro & Cigno, Allessandro & Pettini, Anna, 1999. "Direct and Indirect Taxation when Households Differ in Market and Non-market Abilities," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  10. Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(114), pages 175-208, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Sandmo, Agnar, 1990. "Tax Distortions and Household Production," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(1), pages 78-90, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Nava, Mario & Schroyen, Fred & Marchand, Maurice, 1996. "Optimal fiscal and public expenditure policy in a two-class economy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 119-137, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1982. "Self-Selection and Pareto Efficient Taxation," NBER Working Papers 0632, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Cigno, Alessandro, 1983. "On Optimal Family Allowances," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 35(1), pages 13-22, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Helmuth Cremer & Arnaud Dellis & Pierre Pestieau, 2003. "Family size and optimal income taxation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 37-54, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Myles, Gareth D., 2000. "On the optimal marginal rate of income tax," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 113-119, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Apps, Patricia & Rees, Ray, 1999. "On the taxation of trade within and between households," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 241-263, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Alessandro Cigno, 2009. "Agency in family policy: a survey," CHILD Working Papers wp16_09, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Alessandro Cigno & Annalisa Luporini, 2009. "Optimal family policy in the presence of moral hazard, when the quantity and quality of children are stochastic," CHILD Working Papers wp13_09, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Jordahl, Henrik & Micheletto, Luca, 2002. "Optimal Utilitarian Taxation and Horizontal Equity," Ratio Working Papers 17, The Ratio Institute. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Herwig Immervoll & David Barber, 2006. "Can Parents Afford to Work? Childcare Costs, Tax-Benefit Policies and Work Incentives," IZA Discussion Papers 1932, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Makoto Hirazawa & Akira Yakita, 2009. "Fertility, child care outside the home, and pay-as-you-go social security," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 565-583, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Apps, Patricia & Rees, Ray, 2001. "Fertility, Female Labor Supply and Public Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 409, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  7. Volker Meier & Matthias Wrede, 2008. "Reducing the Excess Burden of Subsidizing the Stork: Joint Taxation, Individual Taxation, and Family Tax Splitting," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  8. Alessandro Cigno & Annalisa Luporini, 2006. "Optimal Policy Towards Families with Different Amounts of Social Capital, in the Presence of Asymmetric Information and Stochastic Fertility," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Alessandro Cigno, 2001. "Comparative Advantage, Observability, and the Optimal Tax Treatment of Families with Children," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 455-470, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Alessandro Balestrino, 2001. "On The Optimal Fiscal Treatment Of Family Size," CHILD Working Papers wp04_01, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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