This paper develops an endogenous growth model with redistributive taxation in which the growth rate of the economy affects the agents’ preferences over redistributive policies, and therefore, the equilibrium level of taxation. The main mechanism through which the growth rate affects policy preferences is by changing the ability of the agents to learn their positions in the future distribution ...

It is an article of faith – among politicians as well as scholars – that government policies have the potential to influence the extent and nature of economic activity, particularly when policies impede the normal functioning of business. Examples include regulatory regimes that discourage business formation, legal systems and institutions that make it difficult to execute and enforce commercia...

BACKGROUND The distribution of cigarette prices has rarely been studied and compared under different tax structures. Descriptive evidence on price distributions by countries can shed light on opportunities for tax avoidance and brand switching under different tobacco tax structures, which could impact the effectiveness of increased taxation in reducing smoking. OBJECTIVE This paper aims to de...

BACKGROUND Research has shown that tobacco control policies have helped produce the dramatic decline in use over the decades following the 1964 surgeon general's report. However, prevalence rates have stagnated during the past two decades in the US, even with large tobacco taxes and expansions of clean air laws. The observed differences in tobacco control policy effectiveness and why policies d...

We study the optimal design of corporate taxation and R&D policies as a dynamic mechanism problem with spillovers. Firms have heterogeneous research productivity, that productivity is private information. There are non‐internalized technological spillovers across firms, but asymmetric information prevents government from correcting them in first best way. highlight key parameters for (i) re...

Spatial patterns in (local) government taxation and spending decisions have received a lot of scholarly attention recently. Still, the focus on taxation or expenditure levels in previous studies is incomplete. In fact, (rational) individuals are likely to consider the level of spending on (or taxation for) public goods provision simultaneously with how much public goods they actually receive – ...

BACKGROUND In Bangladesh, the average excise tax on cigarettes accounted for just 38% of the average retail price of cigarettes in 2009, and 45% in 2010. Both these rates are well below the WHO recommended share of 70% of the retail price at a minimum. There is thus ample room for raising taxes on cigarettes in Bangladesh. The objective of the present work was therefore to estimate the price el...