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Taxing Top Wealth: Migration Responses and their Aggregate Economic Implications

Author

Listed:
  • Katrine Jakobsen
  • Henrik Kleven
  • Jonas Kolsrud
  • Camille Landais
  • Mathilde Muñoz

Abstract

Using administrative data from Scandinavian countries, we provide evidence on international migration responses to wealth taxes and evaluate their aggregate economic implications. We find significant migration responses among the wealthy: a 1pp increase in the top wealth tax rate decreases the stock of wealthy taxpayers by about 2%. A large fraction of the wealthy are business owners, and their businesses are negatively affected by owner out-migration. The aggregate effects are nevertheless modest: the migration responses to a 1pp increase in the top wealth tax rate reduce employment by 0.02%, investments by 0.07%, and value-added by 0.10%.

Suggested Citation

  • Katrine Jakobsen & Henrik Kleven & Jonas Kolsrud & Camille Landais & Mathilde Muñoz, 2024. "Taxing Top Wealth: Migration Responses and their Aggregate Economic Implications," NBER Working Papers 32153, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32153
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dray, Sacha & Landais, Camille & Stantcheva, Stefanie, 2023. "Wealth and Property Taxation in the United States," CEPR Discussion Papers 18096, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    2. Jäger, Simon & Heining, Jörg, 2019. "How Substitutable Are Workers? Evidence from Worker Deaths," MPRA Paper 109757, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Jan 2019.
    3. Marius Brülhart & Jonathan Gruber & Matthias Krapf & Kurt Schmidheiny, 2022. "Behavioral Responses to Wealth Taxes: Evidence from Switzerland," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 111-150, November.
    4. Henrik Jacobsen Kleven & Camille Landais & Emmanuel Saez, 2013. "Taxation and International Migration of Superstars: Evidence from the European Football Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1892-1924, August.
    5. Jonas Kolsrud & Camille Landais & Peter Nilsson & Johannes Spinnewijn, 2018. "The Optimal Timing of Unemployment Benefits: Theory and Evidence from Sweden," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(4-5), pages 985-1033, April.
    6. José María Durán-Cabré & Alejandro Esteller-Moré & Mariona Mas-Montserrat, 2019. "Behavioural responses to the (re)introduction of wealth taxes. Evidence from Spain," Working Papers 2019/04, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Gabriel Zucman, 2024. "A blueprint for a coordinated minimum effective taxation standard for ultra-high-net-worth individuals," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-04947409, HAL.
    2. Alvaredo, Facundo & Berman, Yonatan & Morelli, Salvatore, 2024. "Evidence from the Dead: New Estimates of Wealth Inequality Using the Distribution of Estates," SocArXiv a4frb, Center for Open Science.
    3. De Rosa, Mauricio & Vilá, Joan, 2026. "Taxing the rich in Latin America: Effects of a wealth tax on revenue and distribution," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 1440-1466.
    4. Anders G Fr{o}seth, 2026. "Extensions to the Wealth Tax Neutrality Framework," Papers 2603.05277, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2026.
    5. Gabriel Zucman, 2024. "A blueprint for a coordinated minimum effective taxation standard for ultra-high-net-worth individuals," Reports 006, EU Tax Observatory.
    6. Varjonen-Ollus, Reetta, 2025. "Behavioural Effects of a Top Marginal Income Tax Rate Increase," Working Papers 180, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    7. Londoño-Vélez, Juliana & Tortarolo, Dario, 2025. "Revealing 21% of GDP in hidden assets: Evidence from Argentina," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    8. Kalin, Salla & Kauppinen, Ilpo & Kotakorpi, Kaisa & Pirttilä, Jukka, 2022. "Migration and tax policy: Evidence from Finnish full population data," Working Papers 150, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    9. repec:hpe:journl:y:2025:v:253:i:2:p:91-127 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Advani, Arun & Burgherr, David & Summers, Andy, "undated". "Taxation and Migration by the Super-Rich," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 630, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    11. Schratzenstaller, Margit, 2025. "Behavioral responses to inheritance taxation – A review of the empirical literature," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 238-260.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • 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
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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