This paper analyzes optimal progressive capital income taxation in the infinite horizon dynastic model. It shows that progressive taxation is a much more powerful and useful tool to redistribute wealth than linear taxation on which previous literature has focused. We consider progressive capital income tax schedules taking a simple two-bracket form with an exemption bracket at the bottom and a ...

An exemption in the Swedish Employment Security Act (LAS) in 2001 made it possible for employers with a maximum of ten employees to exempt two workers from the seniority rule at times of redundancies. Using this within-country enforcement variation, the relationship between employment protection and sickness absence among employees is examined. The average treatment effect from the exemption is...

BACKGROUND Like other African countries, Tanzania has in recent years, been implementing various exemptions and targeting programmes to protect and ensure equitable access to health care by poorer segments of the population. A body of evidence indicates that exemption policies, while potentially effective in principle, are ineffective in implementation. However, there is evidence that some dist...

SUMMARY OBJECTIVES To determine changes in the proportion of deliveries at health facilities and the proportion attended by health professionals after delivery fee exemption implementation. DESIGN Pre and post intervention implementation cluster-sampled household survey. SETTING Central and Volta regions of Ghana. PARTICIPANTS Women who had delivered in these regions during the fee exempt...

BACKGROUND The importance of complexity in health care policy-making and interventions, as well as research and evaluation is now widely acknowledged, but conceptual confusion reigns and few applications of complexity concepts in research design have been published. Taking user fee exemption policies as an entry point, we explore the methodological consequences of 'complexity' for health policy...

OBJECTIVES We studied school personnel involved in the review of student's immunization status to determine whether personnel training, immunization-related knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs, use of alternative medicine, and sources of vaccine information were associated with the vaccination status of school children. METHODS Surveys were mailed to a stratified and random sample of 1000 schoo...