In this survey, I summarize and evaluate the extant literature concerning taxation and personal saving. I describe the theoretical models that economists have used to depict saving decisions, and I explore the positive and normative implications of these models. The central positive question is whether and to what extent specific public policies raise or lower the rate of saving. The central normative question is whether and to what extent it is desirable to tax the economic returns to saving. I also examine empirical evidence on the saving effects of various tax policies. This evidence includes econometric studies of the generic relation between saving and the after-tax rate of return, as well as analyses of responses to the economic incentives that are imbedded in tax-deferred retirement accounts. Finally, I also discuss several indirect channels through which tax policy may affect household saving by altering the behavior of third parties, such as employers.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
7061.
Length: Date of creation: Mar 1999 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7061
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Paper
B. Douglas Bernheim, 1999.
"Taxation and Saving,"
Working Papers
99007, Stanford University, Department of Economics.
[Downloadable!]
Chapter
Bernheim, B. Douglas, 2002.
"Taxation and saving,"
Handbook of Public Economics,
in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 18, pages 1173-1249
Elsevier.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Find related papers by JEL classification: H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
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