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On the optimal provision of social insurance

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  • Krueger, Dirk
  • Ludwig, Alexander

Abstract

In this paper we characterize quantitatively the optimal mix of progressive income taxes and education subsidies in a model with endogenous human capital formation, borrowing constraints, income risk and incomplete fi…nancial markets. Progressive labor income taxes provide social insurance against idiosyncratic income risk and redistributes after tax income among ex-ante heterogeneous households. In addition to the standard distortions of labor supply progressive taxes also impede the incentives to acquire higher education, generating a non-trivial trade-off for the benevolent utilitarian government. The latter distortion can potentially be mitigated by an education subsidy. We …find that the welfare-maximizing …fiscal policy is indeed characterized by a substantially progressive labor income tax code and a positive subsidy for college education. Both the degree of tax progressivity and the education subsidy are larger than in the current U.S. status quo.
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  • Krueger, Dirk & Ludwig, Alexander, 2015. "On the optimal provision of social insurance," SAFE Working Paper Series 110, Research Center SAFE - Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe, Goethe University Frankfurt.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:safewp:110
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    Cited by:

    1. Froemel, M. & Gottlieb, C., 2016. "The Earned Income Tax Credit: Targeting the Poor but Crowding Out Wealth," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1651, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

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