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Evidence on the Insurance Effect of Redistributive Taxation

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  • Christos Koulovatianos
  • Charles Grant
  • Alex Michaelides
  • Mario Padula

Abstract

If households face uninsurable idiosyncratic earnings risk, theory predicts that re- distributive tax and transfer systems have both an insurance and a distortionary effect. Exploiting the substantial variation of tax and transfer systems across US states and over time 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

  • Christos Koulovatianos & Charles Grant & Alex Michaelides & Mario Padula, 2009. "Evidence on the Insurance Effect of Redistributive Taxation," Discussion Papers 09/08, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).
    • Handle: RePEc:not:notcfc:09/08
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Kristy Fan & Tyler J. Fisher & Andrew A. Samwick, 2021. "The Insurance Value of Financial Aid," NBER Working Papers 28669, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Heer Burkhard, 2018. "Optimal pensions in aging economies," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(1), pages 1-19, January.
    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. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Hubar, Sylwia & Koulovatianos, Christos & Li, Jian, 2020. "The role of labor-income risk in household risk-taking," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Undiversifiable Earnings Risk; Consumption Insurance; Tax Distortions.;
    All these keywords.

    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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