Publications

October 2015
Teaching Note

1996 Welfare Reform in the United States

Keywords: Median Voter Theorem; Moral Hazard; Voting; Ethics

29 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: Jan. 29

at the individual level. We discuss the implications of our results for the study of learning as well as for providers and consumers of outsourced services. Preference Heterogeneity and Optimal Capital Income Taxation Authors:Golosov, Mikhail, Maxim Troshkin, Aleh... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Mar 2016
First Look

March 22, 2016

Acceptance of Morally Arbitrary Luck and Widespread Support for Classical Benefit-Based Taxation By: Weinzierl, Matthew C. Abstract—Public moral reasoning is shown to differ in three specific ways from what... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2017 (Revised November 2023)
Technical Note

The BGIE Twenty (2024 version)

By: Alberto Cavallo, Kristin Fabbe, Mattias Fibiger, Jeremy Friedman, Reshmaan Hussam, Vincent Pons and Matthew Weinzierl

The purpose of this technical note is to explain the BGIE Twenty, an “idea-kit” that serves as the intellectual backbone of the BGIE course. Each year, the BGIE professors decide on the twenty ideas that we believe are the most important for students to study in... View Details

Keywords: Ideas; Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Analysis

Educators

06 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 6

understood and managed. The key to success? Incentives. Fortunately, new research has shed light on the role incentives can play in promoting new ideas, but these findings have been absent from innovation literature-until now. By using... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 7

error in judgment? Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/311063-PDF-ENG The Export-Import Bank of the United States C. Fritz Foley and Matthew JohnsonHarvard Business School Case 211-032... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Popular Acceptance of Inequality Due to Innate Brute Luck and Support for Classical Benefit-based Taxation

U.S. survey respondents' views on distributive justice differ in two specific, related ways from what is conventionally assumed in modern optimal tax research. When expressing their preferences over allocations in stylized, hypothetical scenarios meant to isolate key... View Details

Keywords: Optimal Taxation; Welfarism; Luck; Benefit-based Taxation; Taxation; Equality and Inequality; Attitudes

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2016
Working Paper

Popular Acceptance of Inequality Due to Innate Brute Luck and Support for Classical Benefit-Based Taxation

U.S. survey respondents' views on distributive justice are shown to differ in two specific, related ways from what is conventionally assumed in modern optimal tax research. A large share of respondents, and in some cases a large majority, resist the full equalization... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Attitudes; Taxation; Theory; United States

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November 2015
Teaching Note

The Estate Tax Debate

November 2015 (Revised November 2015)
Teaching Note

Immigration Policy in Germany

December 2014 (Revised May 2015)
Teaching Note

Reform in the Chicago Public Schools

Summer 2013
Other Article

The Roots of Our Tax Debates

Our fiscal debates are endlessly frustrating. The outlines of a compromise seem clear, yet both sides remain incapable of agreement. But is the proper balance between spending less and taxing more really so obvious? A look at what underlies the political wars over... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Debates; Taxation; Budgets and Budgeting; United States

January 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Course Overview Note

Introduction to Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE)

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; International Relations; Trade

24 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 24

Publication:In Innovation Policy and the Economy. Vol. 11, edited by Josh Lerner and Scott Stern. NBER Book Series. University of Chicago Press, forthcoming Abstract In this paper we explore the innovations in governance that have... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, March 6, 2018

provide insights into why and how investors use reported environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information. Relevance to investment performance is the most frequent motivation for use of ESG data followed by client demand and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2023
Course Overview Note

Space: Public and Commercial Economics (SPACE)

SPACE is a course with two goals: to use the tools of economics to better understand the rapidly evolving space sector, and to train the next generation of commercial space leaders. We pursue these goals through a systematic study of the growing space economy,... View Details

Keywords: Industry Growth; Aerospace Industry

May 2022 (Revised June 2022)
Course Overview Note

Harvard Business School’s Required Curriculum

2021
Working Paper

The Incidence of the Corporate Income Tax Is Irrelevant for Its (Benefit-Based) Justification

Robust support for corporate income taxation is a puzzle for standard tax theory because the tax’s incidence is uncertain and unreliable. We propose a resolution: if the corporate tax is seen as a benefit-based tax, its normative appeal depends on the correspondence... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Income Tax; Benefit-based Taxation; Business Ventures; Taxation