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Evidence on the Insurance Effect of Redistributive Taxation

Author

Listed:
  • Charles Grant

    (University of Reading)

  • Christos Koulovatianos

    (Department of Economics, University of Exeter and CFS)

  • Alexander Michaelides

    (London School of Economics and CEPR)

  • Mario Padula

    (University \Ca' Foscari" of Venice and CSEF)

Abstract

If households face uninsurable idiosyncratic earnings risk, theory predicts that redistributive tax and transfer systems have both an insurance and a distortionary effect. Exploiting the substantial variation of tax and transfer systems across US states we investigate the necessary traces of these two effects in the data: that state-level measures of redistributive taxation should correlate negatively with, (a) the standard deviation, and (b) the mean, of the within-state consumption distribution. We find that the first correlation is robust, supporting strongly the presence of an insurance effect. The distortionary effect can also be detected in the data but it is less precisely estimated.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles Grant & Christos Koulovatianos & Alexander Michaelides & Mario Padula, 2008. "Evidence on the Insurance Effect of Redistributive Taxation," Discussion Papers 0809, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:exe:wpaper:0809
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    File URL: https://exetereconomics.github.io/RePEc/dpapers/DP0809.pdf
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    2. Kristy Fan & Tyler J. Fisher & Andrew A. Samwick, 2025. "The Insurance Value of Financial Aid," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 20(4), pages 674-703, Fall.
    3. Nezih Guner & Martin Lopez-Daneri & Gustavo Ventura, 2023. "The Looming Fiscal Reckoning: Tax Distortions, Top Earners, and Revenues," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 50, pages 146-170, October.
    4. Fischer, Marcel & Jensen, Bjarne Astrup, 2019. "The debt tax shield in general equilibrium," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 151-166.
    5. Cho, Yunho & Kim, Jiseob & Kim, Julie, 2025. "Why old-age poverty matters: Evidence from consumption responses to income shocks," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Hoynes, Hilary W. & Luttmer, Erzo F.P., 2011. "The insurance value of state tax-and-transfer programs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(11), pages 1466-1484.
    7. Hubar, Sylwia & Koulovatianos, Christos & Li, Jian, 2020. "The role of labor-income risk in household risk-taking," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    8. Hoynes, Hilary W. & Luttmer, Erzo F.P., 2012. "Reprint of: The insurance value of state tax-and-transfer programs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 1110-1128.
    9. Carolina Achury & Sylwia Hubar & Christos Koulovatianos, 2012. "Saving Rates and Portfolio Choice with Subsistence Consumption," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 15(1), pages 108-126, January.
    10. Heer Burkhard, 2018. "Optimal pensions in aging economies," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(1), pages 1-19, January.
    11. Olga Cantó & Carmelo García Pérez & Marina Romaguera de la Cruz, 2023. "The Role of Tax-Benefit Systems in Shaping Economic Insecurity in the European Union," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 247(4), pages 7-36, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household

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