Altruism and the Political Economy of Income Taxation

I develop a model in which altruistic agents vote over quadratic income tax schedules. Agents have heterogeneous preferences and productivities, and the model incorporates the incentive effects of taxation. The main result of the paper establishes the existence of a self-confirming majority rule equilibrium in which agents' labor supply decisions are optimal given their tax liabilities and the tax policy is a majority rule equilibrium given the labor supply decisions. In equilibrium the actions by all agents confirm their expectations, but such expectations may be incorrect out of equilibrium. The model generates majority rule voting equilibria that involve progressive taxation.     

A Political Economy Model of Earnings Mobility and Redistribution Policy

This paper presents a politico‐economic model that includes a mutual link between life cycle earnings mobility and redistributive politics. The model demonstrates that when an economy features a high opportunity of upward mobility and high risk of downward mobility, it attains a unique equilibrium where unskilled, low‐income agents support a low redistribution because of the hope of upward mobility in future. In contrast, the economy attains multiple equilibria when mobility opportunity and risk are low: one is an unskilled‐majority equilibrium defined by low mobility and the other is a skilled‐majority equilibrium defined by high mobility. The paper gives a comparison between the political equilibrium and the social planner's allocation in terms of mobility, and shows that the skilled‐majority equilibrium realizes mobility close to the optimal one.     

Income Distribution and Redistribution

Abstract:

It seems that some observable structural trends in recent decades such as globalization, skills-biased technological advances and level of unionization all over the world have been affected by income distribution, in addition to other economic variables. The latest trends in the 2000s exhibited a widening gap between the rich and the poor not only in some of the already high inequality countries, but also in traditionally low inequality countries. In order to mitigate inequality, many countries have followed redistribution policies (taxes and transfers). In this article, we will mainly focus on the effects of redistribution policies consisting of income taxes and social transfers on income inequality using the micro data in Turkey. Additionally, since financial crises have been becoming more important with increasing frequency of crises all over the world, we also search for the effects of crises on inequality and the degree of mitigation of redistributive policies, especially during the Global Recession.     

论社会主义市场经济中的利益分配结构

章描述了社会主义市场经济条件下的利益分配结构及其合理化原则问题。认为利益分配结构是一个由主体结构、客体结构、时间结构、空间结构组成的多维复合体系。利益分配结构与经济结构是相辅相成的关系，合理的经济结构必须要有合理的利益分配结构配套。用系统分析方法研究利益分配结构，有助于我们从不同角度认识利益分配中的复杂情况。进而在错综复杂的利益分配格局中把握好我国现阶段分配活动的内在联系。这于引导、调节、控制、管理好利益分配，理顺社会主义市场经济条件下的利益分配关系是十分必要的。     

Strategic Political Participation and Redistribution

The purpose of this paper is to study formation of support and opposition to redistribution. We analyze a society with two groups of citizens and a government. The government distributes income from one group to the other in response to political pressure. The interaction between the groups is modeled as a two-stage game. In stage 1, the groups decide if they want to be politically active. In stage 2, the active group or groups seek influence on the direction and size of the transfer. We demonstrate that supporters of redistribution are always politically active but that opposition is often absent. Moreover, when opposition is absent there is a strong tendency for underdissipation of the transfer, while political competition typically leads to overdissipation.     

A Positive Theory of Income Redistribution

This article examines how redistribution of human capital expenditure can come about voluntarily. A model is developed in which, in the absence of redistribution, human capital expenditure is financed through tax revenue collected locally. However, circumstances are shown under which transfers of human capital expenditure across neighborhoods can take place voluntarily, even in the absence of interfamily altruism. These transfers can eliminate absolute inequality and reduce relative inequality. In addition, the effect on aggregate income of such human capital funding transfers across neighborhoods is evaluated. Empirical evidence supporting the model's implications for the impact of redistribution of human capital expenditure on the persistence of income inequality is presented     

Income Taxation and the Diversity of Consumer Goods: A Political Economy Approach*

After‐tax income inequality has risen since the mid‐1990s, as increases in market income inequality have not been offset by greater fiscal redistribution. We argue that the substantial increase in the diversity of consumer goods has mitigated mounting political pressures for redistribution. Within a probabilistic voting framework, we demonstrate that if the share of diversified goods in the consumption bundle increases sufficiently with income, then an increase in goods diversity can reduce the political equilibrium tax rate. Focusing on OECD countries, we find empirical support for both the model's micro‐political foundations and the implied relation between goods diversity and fiscal policy outcomes.     

免征额与个人所得税的收入再分配效应

免征额一直以来都是个人所得税改革与研究的重点领域。本文通过构建个人所得税的税制模拟模型,证明了免征额的大小与单一税率以及多级累进税率个人所得税的平均有效税率大小呈反比,与累进性的大小成正比,并且随着免征额的增大,单一税率以及多级累进税率个人所得税的收入再分配效应呈先上升后下降的倒U字型分布。这对于完善个人所得税税制设计的理论体系,以及指导个人所得税改革实践均具有重要意义,为我国现阶段的工薪所得税与未来综合征收的个人所得税更好地发挥调节收入分配差距的作用提供了重要依据。     

On the Political Economy of Temporary Stabilization Programs

This paper provides a political economy explanation for temporary exchange-rate-based stabilization programs by focusing on the distributional effects of real exchange-rate appreciation. I propose an economy in which agents are endowed with either tradable or non-tradable goods. Under a cash-in-advance assumption, a temporary reduction in the devaluation rate induces a consumption boom accompanied by real appreciation, which hurts the owners of tradable goods. The owners of non-tradables have to weigh two opposing effects: an increase in the present value of non-tradable goods wealth and a negative intertemporal substitution effect. For reasonable parameter values, owners of non-tradables are better off.     

社会主义政治经济学的“中国特色”问题

社会主义与市场经济的有机结合是中国对社会主义经济形态发展的最重大贡献。围绕这种结合所进行的理论分析是中国特色社会主义政治经济学的中心任务。初级形态的社会主义和中华文明思想基因的理论化,是我们辩识中国特色的实践和理论问题的坐标或参照系的底色,但是,对其中的思想基因还存在一个理论化的问题。在市场经济体制下,社会主义与资本主义之间的实质性差异,最终表现为,在重大制度的设计和安排上,是国家的意志支配着资本,还是资本的意志支配着国家的问题。社会主义初级阶段基本经济制度为国家摆脱资本意志的不良影响提供了重要的制度基础,但是,还需要在综合考虑这种制度的工具价值和内在价值的基础上,进一步思考最适度的所有制结构问题。此外,在中国语境中,只有在中央与地方的政府结构中,并且充分考虑到官商关系,才能更有效地讨论政府与市场之间的关系,展现出经济治理结构的特性和面临的问题。     

Political Representation and Legislative Bargaining over Redistribution

International Advances in Economic Research - The theories of dynamic legislative bargaining have supposed that the distribution of legislators are constant across periods. In reality, a transition...     

Foreign Management,International Capital,and Income Redistribution

This paper examines the impact of foreign management as a separate input in a competitive economy open to both international trade and international movement of productive capital. Three inputs (capital, labor, management) are used to produce two final goods in a model characterized by competition, homogeneous products, and full employment. This model provides a simple starting point for the study of multinational firm activity, building on the fundamental competitive factor proportions model of production and trade. A clear distinction arises between international movements of capital and management, and international movements of the two inputs are linked. [F 11, F 23]     

Income Redistribution and Direct Taxes and Transfers in New Zealand

This article examines the redistributive effects of direct taxes and transfers in New Zealand. First, it reports summary measures of the income tax-and-transfer system using the NZ Household Economic Survey. Second, the article examines the characteristics of low-income NZ taxpayers. A decomposition by individual and household characteristics shows that different groups of low-income taxpayers can be affected quite differently by various aspects of the tax-and-transfer system. In particular, reforms involving tax-free zones do not appear to be well targeted to help those most in need.     

Homeownership,Mobility, And Local Income Redistribution

Regions are characterized by different homeownership rates. Homeowners and renters differ in their mobility costs, renters having lower mobility costs. This paper analyses how the presence of those different types of households affects income sorting and tax differences between local jurisdictions. To this aim, we analyze a model of local income redistribution with mobile (renter) and immobile (homeowner) households. Linear income taxes finance a lump sum transfer. Policies are determined endogenously through voting. In such a framework, if there are no or only few homeowners, no income‐sorting equilibrium exists. Above a certain threshold for the homeownership rate we find an inverted U‐shaped relationship between tax differences and homeownership rates, such that tax differences between jurisdictions are highest for intermediate homeownership rates.     

关于马克思主义政治经济学理论教学方法的探讨

目前高校使用的《马克思主义基本原理概论》将马克思主义学说三个组成部分统一在一起,以求达到对马克思主义的整体性认识。马克思主义政治经济学是马克思主义学说的三大组成部分之一,是马克思主义最基本的世界观和方法论的进一步展开,在马克思主义整个学说体系中起着承上启下的作用,如果教师在传授此部分内容仍然采用传统的说教模式,很容易使学生感到厌烦,失去学习兴趣,因而在教学方法上必须做出相应的变化,从而真正达到教学目的。     

Policy for Poverty Alleviation and Income Redistribution with Quasi-Public Goods

This paper proposes a theoretical framework for a poverty‐alleviation program with quasi‐public goods and presents four main effects. First, this policy succeeds in self‐selection, which identifies low‐productive persons under imperfect information and allows them to receive at least the minimum income. Second, we can observe income redistribution by this scheme without any taxes. Third, the program contributes cost‐effectiveness in many cases. Finally, it makes clear that this policy is suitable, especially in areas where low‐income people are concentrated.     

Consumer Heterogeneity,Free Trade,and the Welfare Impact of Income Redistribution

Demographic differences, like young and elderly, and healthy and disabled, are summarized as consumers' heterogeneity in expenditure shares, and introduced into an otherwise standard Heckscher–Ohlin model, together with income distribution in this paper. We prove that free trade may hurt consumers who spend more on the exporting good if the volume of trade is small, while redistributing more income to consumers who spend more on the exporting good may make everyone in the country better off. By contrast, redistributing more income to consumers who spend more on the importing good may make everyone in the country worse off.