Optimal redistribution: A life-cycle perspective

Autor: Jean-Baptiste Michau
Rok vydání: 2014
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Public Economics. 111:1-16
ISSN: 0047-2727
Popis: In this paper, I characterize the optimal redistribution policy in a simple life-cycle framework with both an intensive and an extensive margin of labor supply. The extensive margin corresponds to the choice of a retirement age. The optimal allocation cannot be implemented in a decentralized economy by a standard non-linear income tax alone. It can however be implemented by a history-dependent social security system which redistributes resources across agents. A calibration of the model to the U.S. economy reveals that the retirement age should optimally be sharply increasing in productivity and that implementing the optimal life-cycle redistribution policy can generate large social welfare gains.
Databáze: OpenAIRE