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Risk sharing: private insurance markets or redistributive taxes?

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Dirk Krueger
Fabrizio Perri

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Abstract

We explore the welfare consequences of different taxation schemes in an economy where agents are debt-constrained. If agents default on their debt, they are banned from future credit markets, but retain their private endowments which are subject to income taxation. A change in the tax system changes the severity of punishment from default and, hence, leads to a limitation of possible risk sharing via private contracts. The welfare consequences of a change in the tax system depend on the relative magnitudes of increased risk sharing forced by the new tax system and the reduced risk sharing in private insurance markets. We quantitatively address this issue by calibrating an artificial economy to US income and tax data. We show that for a plausible selection of the structural parameters of our model, the change to a more redistributive tax system leads to less risk sharing among individuals and lower ex-ante welfare.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in its series Staff Report with number 262.

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Date of creation: 1999
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedmsr:262

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Keywords: Taxation ; Tax reform CL HG2567 M5A71;

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Full references

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(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. Dirk Krueger & Fabrizio Perri, 2002. "Does Income Inequality Lead to Consumption Inequality? Evidence and Theory," NBER Working Papers 9202, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Dirk Krueger & Harald Uhlig, 2003. "Competitive Risk Sharing Contracts with One-Sided Commitment," Levine's Bibliography 666156000000000407, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Jon Strand, 2002. "Effects of Progressive Taxes under Decentralized Bargaining and Heterogeneous Labor," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 195-210, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. David Andolfatto & Martin Gervais, 2006. "Human Capital Investment and Debt Constraints," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 9(1), pages 52-67, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Krüger, Dirk & Perri, Fabrizio, 2002. "Does Income Inequality Lead to Consumption Inequality?," CEPR Discussion Papers 3583, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Juan A. Rojas & Carlos Urrutia, 2008. "Social Security with Uninsurable Income Risk and Endogenous Borrowing Constraints," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(1), pages 83-103, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Junsang Lee & Yili Chien, 2008. "Why Tax Capital?," ANUCBE School of Economics Working Papers 2008-497, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Mikhail Golosov & Aleh Tsyvinski, 2006. "Optimal Taxation with Endogenous Insurance Markets," Levine's Bibliography 784828000000000445, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Alexander Monge-Naranjo & Luis J. Hall, 2003. "Access to Credit and the Effect of Credit Constraints on Costa Rican Manufacturing Firms," RES Working Papers 3164, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  10. Costas Azariadis & Leo Kaas, 2004. "Endogenous Financial Development and Multiple Growth Regimes," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2004/08, Centro de Estudios Andaluces. [Downloadable!]
  11. Rafael Di Tella & Robert MacCulloch, 2002. "Informal Family Insurance And The Design Of The Welfare State," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(481), pages 481-503, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Lance Lochner & Alexander Monge-Naranjo, 2002. "Human Capital Formation with Endogenous Credit Constraints," NBER Working Papers 8815, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Jonathan P Thomas & Tim Worrall, 2002. "Unemployment Insurance under Moral Hazard and Limited Commitment: Public vs Private Provision," Keele Economics Research Papers KERP 2002/20, Centre for Economic Research, Keele University. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Juan A. Rojas & Carlos Urrutia, 2006. "Social Security Reform with Uninsurable Income Risk and Endogenous Borrowing Constraints," Banco de España Working Papers 0602, Banco de España. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Junsang Lee & Yili Chien, 2008. "Optimal Capital Taxation Under Limited Commitment," ANUCBE School of Economics Working Papers 2008-498, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  16. Charles Grant, 2000. "Bankruptcy, Credit Constraints, and Insurance: Some Empirics," CSEF Working Papers 40, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  17. Dirk Krueger & Fabrizio Perri, 2005. "The Research Agenda: Dirk Krueger and Fabrizio Perri on Risk Sharing across Households, Generations and Countries," EconomicDynamics Newsletter, Review of Economic Dynamics, vol. 6(2), April. [Downloadable!]
  18. Narayana R. Kocherlakota, 2002. "Money: What's the Question and Why Should We Care About the Answer?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 58-61, May. [Downloadable!]
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