Who Should Get Money? Estimating Welfare Weights in the U.S.
(with Francesco Capozza)
Reject and Resubmit at the American Economic Review
[New Draft]
Awards: Distinguished CESifo Affiliate Award for best paper in Public Economics 2024 (awarded to Francesco Capozza)
Evaluating the desirability of a reform typically involves weighing the gains of winners against the losses of losers using welfare weights, which measure the value that society places on a $1 increase in an individual's consumption. We elicit the welfare weights of the U.S. general population using experiments and show their robustness, validity, and temporal stability. We estimate an income elasticity of welfare weights between -0.78 and -0.70, which is roughly 5-9 times more progressive than the weights implied by U.S. tax and transfer policies. We use the estimated welfare weights to derive optimal income taxes.
Paternalism: Determinants of Demand and Supply
(with Björn Bartling )
[Paper]
Who Deserves a Tax Break and Why? Evidence on Preferences for Taxing Personal Characteristics
(with Julien Senn)
[Email for draft]