EC 762 Applied Public Finance

Transcription

1 EC 762 Applied Public Finance Spring 2007 Prof. Laurence J. Kotlikoff Room 300, 264 Bay State Rd Phone: EC762 Course Syllabus Professor Kotlikoff Room Bay State Rd. Course Description This course examines topics in applied public finance. Course Hours and Location SSW 564 Tuesday and Thursday 2-3:30 Office Hours Monday and Wednesday 3:30-4:30 or by appointment. Exams, Presentation, and Papers There will be a final exam, a student presentation of a paper, and a paper. Homework Homework assignments will be provided in class. Paper Your assignment is to develop and analyze the incidence and efficiency effects of a fiscal reform for your own country or some other country. Grading Completion of homework will constitute 25 percent of the final grade, the paper 25 percent, and the final exam, 50 percent. Reading All readings will be provided in reading packets or posted on the web.

2 EC 762 Applied Public Finance page 2 The Incidence of Generational Policy 4, Chapter 27, sections 1 3. Illustrating Generational Policy 4, Chapter 27, section 6. Gokhale, J., L. Kotlikoff, and J. Sabelhaus, "Understanding the Postwar Decline in United States Saving: A Cohort Analysis," The Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Fehr, H., S. Jokisch, and L. Kotlikoff, Will China Eat Our Lunch or Take Us to Dinner?, September 2005, posted at Gokhale, J., L. Kotlikoff, J. Sefton, and M. Weale, Simulating the Transmission of Wealth Inequality via Bequests, The Journal of Public Economics, 79, Fiscal Labeling and Generational Accounting Green, J. and L. Kotlikoff, On the General Relativity of Fiscal Language, posted at 4, Chapter 27, sections 4 5. Gokhale, J. and K. Smetters, Fiscal and Generational Imbalances, Intergenerational Altruism 4, Chapter 27, section 7.

3 EC 762 Applied Public Finance page 3 Altonji, J., F. Hayashi, and L. Kotlikoff, "Is the Extended Family Altruistically Linked? Direct Tests Using Micro Data," (with Joe Altonji and Fumio Hayashi), The American Economic Review, December Altonji, J., F. Hayashi, and L. Kotlikoff, "Parental Altruism and Inter Vivos Transfers: Theory and Evidence," The Journal of Political Economy, December Social Security Reform Diamond, P. and P. Orszag, A Summary of Saving Social Security A Balanced Approach, July 2004, Report of the President s Commission to Strengthen Social Security, December 11, 2001, df Feldstein, M., The Presidential Address to the American Economic Association, January 8, 2005, Rethinking Social Insurance, Kotlikoff, L., The End of Social Security? Don t Reform It. Replace It, The Boston Globe, November 21, 2004, Tax Reform Hall R. and A. Rabushka, The Flat Tax, Hoover Press, 2 nd Edition, Bradford, D., Consumption Taxes: Some Fundamental Transition Issues, in Frontiers of Tax Reform, M. Boskin ed., Hoover Press, Weidenbaum, M. The Nunn-Domenici USA Tax: Analysis and Comparisons, in Frontiers of Tax Reform, M. Boskin ed., Hoover Press, 1996.

4 EC 762 Applied Public Finance page 4 Bradford, D., The X Tax in the World Economy, NBER working paper no 10676, August 2004, Kotlikoff, L. and D. Rapson, Does It Pay, at the Margin, to Work and Save? -- Measuring Effective Marginal Taxes on Americans Labor Supply and Saving, August 2006, posted at Kotlikoff, L. and D. Rapson, Comparing Average and Marginal Taxes under the FairTax and the Current System of Federal Income Taxation, October 2006, posted at P. Bachman, J. Haughton, L. Kotlikoff, A. Sanchez-Penalver, and D. Tuerck, Taxing Sales Under the Fair Tax What Rate Works?, September 2006, posted at Corporate Income Taxation Harberger, A., The Incidence of the Corporation Income Tax, Journal of Political Economy, June 1962, Gravelle, J. and L. Kotlikoff, The Incidence and Efficiency Costs of Corporate Taxation When Corporate and Non-Corporate Firms Produce the Same Goods, Journal of Political Economy, August Labor Supply Responses to Fiscal Policies Friedberg, The Labor Supply Effects of the Social Security Earnings Test, Review of Economics and Statistics, 82, 48-63, Ziliak, J. and T. Kniesner, Estimating Life Cycle Labor Supply Tax Effects, Journal of Political Economy, 107, , Blundell, R., A. Duncan, and C. Meghir, Estimating Labor Supply Responses Using Tax Reforms, Econometrica, 66, , Hines, J. Three Sides of Harberger Triangles, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13, , Feldstein, Martin, The Effect of Marginal Tax Rates on Taxable Income: A Panel Study of the 1986 Tax Reform Act, Journal of Political Economy, 103(3), , 1995.

5 EC 762 Applied Public Finance page 5 Political Economy Some Inefficiency Implications of Generational Politics and Exchange" (with Robert Rosenthal), Economics and Politics, March "Social Contracts as Assets: A Possible Solution to the Time Consistency Problem," (with Thorsten Persson and Lars Svensson), The American Economic Review, September 1988, reprinted in Monetary and Fiscal Policy (Torsten Persson and Guido Tabellini, eds.), Chamley, C., Rational Herds, Section 8.2, Persson, T. and G. Tabellini, Political Economics, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Fiscal Federalism and Local Public Goods Oakland, W., Theory of Public Goods, the Handbook of Public Economics, Chapter 9. volume 1. Rubinfeld, D., The Economics of the Local Public Sector, Handbook of Public Economics, vol.2, Chapter 11, Sections 1-3. Gordon, R. (1983), An Optimal Taxation Approach to Fiscal Federalism, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 98, Mieszkiowski, P. and G. Zodrow, Taxation and the Tiebout Model, Journal of Economic Literature, 1989, Gordon, R., Can Capital Income Taxation Survive in Open Economies?, Journal of Finance, 47, 1992, Stiglitz, J. The Theory of Local Public Goods Twenty-Five Years After Tiebout: A Perspective. Oates, W., The Effects of Property Taxes and Local Public Spending on Property Values, Journal of Political Economy, November Hamilton, B.W. The Effects of Property Taxes and Local Public Spending on Property Values: A Theoretical Comment, Journal of Political Economy, June, Buchanan, J., An Economic Theory of Clubs, Economica, February, 1965, 1-14.

6 EC 762 Applied Public Finance page 6 SandIer, T., and J. Tschivhart, The Economic Theory of Clubs: An Evaluative Survey, Journal of Economic Literature, December, Epple, D., A. Zelenitz, and M. Visscher, A Search for Testable Implications of the Tiebout Hypothesis, Journal of Political Economy, June, 1978, Student Presentation Articles M. Golosov, A. Tsyvinski, and I. Werning, New Dynamic Public Finance: A User s Guide, 2006, R. Chetty and E. Saez, Dividend Taxes and Corporate Behavior: Evidence from the 2003 Dividend Tax Cut, QJE, August 2005, J. Gruber, Tax Policy for Health Insurance, in Tax Policy and the Economy, vol. 19, 2005, NBER working paper no J. Hausman, Nonparametric Measurement of Exact Consumer Surplus and Deadweight Loss, Econometrica, 1995, J. Gravelle and K. Smetters, Who Bears the Burden of Corporate Taxation in an Open Economy?, NBER paper 8280, M. Browning, F. Bourguignon, P. Chiappori, V. Lechene, Income and Outcomes: A Structural Model of Intrahousehold Allocation, JPE, 1994,