Publications

Educators

Purchase

2021
Article

Designing, Not Checking, for Policy Robustness: An Example with Optimal Taxation

By: Benjamin B. Lockwood, Afras Sial and Matthew C. Weinzierl

Economists typically check the robustness of their results by comparing them across plausible ranges of parameter values and model structures. A preferable approach to robustness—for the purposes of policymaking and evaluation—is to design policy that takes these... View Details

Keywords: Optimal Taxation; Income Tax; Social Welfare; Elasticity; Income; Taxation; Policy

Register to Read

October 2011
Article

The Surprising Power of Age-Dependent Taxes

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

This article provides a new, empirically driven application of the dynamic Mirrleesian framework by studying a feasible and potentially powerful tax reform: age-dependent labor income taxation. I show analytically how age dependence improves policy on both the... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Policy; Age; Income; Mathematical Methods; Welfare; United States

Article

An Exploration of Optimal Stabilization Policy

By: N. Gregory Mankiw and Matthew C. Weinzierl

This paper examines the optimal response of monetary and fiscal policy to a decline in aggregate demand. The theoretical framework is a two-period general equilibrium model in which prices are sticky in the short-run and flexible in the long-run. Policy is evaluated by... View Details

Keywords: Fiscal Policy; Monetary Policy; Economic Models; Aggregate Demand; Demand and Consumers; Money; Mathematical Methods; Taxation; Spending; Policy; Welfare; Household; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation

2020
Working Paper

Designing, Not Checking, for Policy Robustness: An Example with Optimal Taxation

By: Benjami Lockwood, Afras Y. Sial and Matthew C. Weinzierl

Economists typically check the robustness of their results by comparing them across plausible ranges of parameter values and model structures. A preferable approach to robustness—for the purposes of policymaking and evaluation—is to design policy that takes these... View Details

Keywords: Optimal Taxation; Robust Optimization; Taxation; Income; Policy; Design

10 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 10

Lincoln Financial Meets the Financial Crisis Robert C. Pozen and Peter SpringHarvard Business School Case 310-137 In March of 2009, Lincoln Financial Group's CEO Dennis Glass... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2019
Working Paper

Understanding Different Approaches to Benefit-Based Taxation

By: Robert Scherf and Matthew C. Weinzierl

The normative principle of benefit-based taxation has exerted substantial influence on many areas of public finance, but it has been largely set aside in the modern theoretical approach to optimal income taxation, where welfarist objectives dominate. A prerequisite for... View Details

Keywords: Benefit-based Taxation; Taxation; Theory

SSRN

June 2020
Article

Understanding Different Approaches to Benefit-Based Taxation

By: Robert Scherf and Matthew C. Weinzierl

The normative principle of benefit-based taxation has exerted substantial influence on many areas of public finance, but it has been largely set aside in the modern theoretical approach to optimal income taxation, where welfarist objectives dominate. A prerequisite for... View Details

Keywords: Benefit-based Taxation; Public Goods; Lindahl; Optimal Taxation; Taxation

Research Summary

Overview

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

My academic research centers on uncovering and closing gaps between the theory and reality of tax policy. My main contribution has been to identify and address a mismatch between the goals for taxation typically assumed in theory and the goals the public and... View Details

28 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: Feb. 28

positions. Creating Leaders: An Ontological/Phenomenological Model Authors:Michael C. Jensen, Werner Erhard, and Kari L. Granger Publication:Chap. 16 in The Handbook for Teaching Leadership: Knowing, Doing,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 14

Working PapersThe Influence of Prior Industry Affiliation on Framing in Nascent Industries: The Evolution of Digital Cameras Authors:Mary J. Benner and Mary Tripsas Abstract New industries sparked by... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 29

What Do Managers Do? Exploring Persistent Performance Differences among Seemingly Similar Enterprises Authors:Rebecca Henderson and Robert Gibbons Publication:In The Handbook of Organizational Economics,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 27

and Karim R. Lakhani Publication: Organization Science (forthcoming). Abstract We examine who the winners are in science problem-solving contests characterized by open broadcast of problem information,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2019
Case

Immigration Policy in Germany (B)

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Robert Scherf