Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Working Knowledge
Business Research for Business Leaders
  • Browse All Articles
  • Popular Articles
  • Cold Call Podcasts
  • About Us
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Entrepreneurship
  • All Topics...
  • Topics
    • COVID-19
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Gender
    • Globalization
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Negotiation
    • Social Enterprise
    • Strategy
  • Sections
    • Book
    • Cold Call Podcast
    • HBS Case
    • In Practice
    • Lessons from the Classroom
    • Op-Ed
    • Research & Ideas
    • Research Event
    • Sharpening Your Skills
    • What Do You Think?
    • Working Paper Summaries
  • Browse All
    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      Positive and Normative Judgments Implicit in US Tax Policy and the Costs of Unequal Growth and Recessions
      27 Jun 2014Working Paper Summaries

      Positive and Normative Judgments Implicit in US Tax Policy and the Costs of Unequal Growth and Recessions

      by Benjamin Lockwood and Matthew Weinzierl
      What does United States tax policy reveal about Americans' values and beliefs, and about how those values and beliefs have changed over time? In this paper, the researchers use theory and data to back out the implicit priorities and judgments in US tax policy over the last several decades. They find a dramatic shift in the mid-1980s that persisted, and even continued, over the next 25 years and that cannot be reconciled with conventional assumptions about these values and beliefs. They explore evidence on a number of possible explanations for this shift, including a link between economic and political inequality. They also attempt to use their results to estimate the welfare costs of two key phenomena—rising inequality and recessions—and find that these estimates are highly sensitive to the explanation one adopts for the evolution of US policy. Overall, the researchers argue, uncovering the judgments implicit in policy provides a promising path toward both a better understanding of policy priorities and more objective comparisons for policy evaluation. Key concepts include:
      • This paper uncovers the values and beliefs implicit in U.S. tax policy over the last three decades.
      • Conventional assumptions about these values and beliefs are not consistent with the path of policy.
      LinkedIn
      Email

      Author Abstract

      We use official data and standard optimal tax conditions to infer the positive and normative judgments implicit in U.S. tax policy since 1979. We find that explanations within this framework for the time path of U.S. policy require central parameters of the model, namely the elasticity of taxable income or the marginal social welfare weights on top earners, to take unconventional values. We use inferred social preferences to provide novel estimates of the welfare costs of unequal growth and recessions and find that they are sensitive to the assumed distortionary costs of taxation and the year from which preferences are derived. We explore several possible explanations for our findings with available data.

      Paper Information

      • Full Working Paper Text
      • Working Paper Publication Date: June 2014
      • HBS Working Paper Number: 14-119
      • Faculty Unit(s): Finance
          Trending
            • 29 Oct 2020
            • Research & Ideas

            The COVID Gender Gap: Why Fewer Women Are Dying

            • 13 Jul 2020
            • Research & Ideas

            Merck CEO Ken Frazier Discusses a COVID Cure, Racism, and Why Leaders Need to Walk the Talk

            • 13 Jan 2021
            • Research & Ideas

            How 'Small C' Change Can Beat Large-Scale Rebuilding

            • 11 Jan 2021
            • Research & Ideas

            Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups

            • 25 Feb 2019
            • Research & Ideas

            How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence

        Matthew C. Weinzierl
        Matthew C. Weinzierl
        Joseph and Jacqueline Elbling Professor of Business Administration
        Chair, MBA Required Curriculum
        Contact
        Send an email
        → More Articles
        Find Related Articles
        • Government and Politics
        • History

        Sign up for our weekly newsletter

        Interested in improving your business? Learn about fresh research and ideas from Harvard Business School faculty.
        ǁ
        Campus Map
        Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
        Baker Library | Bloomberg Center
        Soldiers Field
        Boston, MA 02163
        Email: Editor-in-Chief
        →Map & Directions
        →More Contact Information
        • Make a Gift
        • Site Map
        • Jobs
        • Harvard University
        • Trademarks
        • Policies
        • Digital Accessibility
        Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College