Parodi, Francesca;
(2019)
Essays in public finance and household lifecycle behavior.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
Preview |
Text
THESIS_Parodi_UCL.pdf Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
This PhD thesis investigates the impact of direct and indirect taxation on households’ consumption, saving and labor supply decisions over the life cycle. Chapter 1 focuses on indirect taxation. A dynamic model of households saving, durable and non-durable consumption decisions in a context of income uncertainty and borrowing constraints is set up. A novel feature of the model is the consistent integration of an intratemporal static demand analysis for different categories of non-durables - necessities and luxuries - with an intertemporal dynamic model for durables and savings. Simulated counterfactuals based on the estimated model show that revenue neutral reforms changing value added tax rates towards uniformity would be welfare improving, however, they would redistribute in favor of the wealthiest groups. Chapters 2 and 3 analyze direct and indirect taxation jointly. Chapter 2 extends the model in Chapter 1 by allowing for endogenous labor supply decisions, heterogeneous preferences and uncertainty in family dynamics. The model is estimated on micro-data and its rich structure is shown to be crucial in reproducing the empirical patterns of households’ life cycle economic behavior. Marshallian elasticities are then simulated along several dimensions and show that the model accounts for mechanisms of interaction between households’ economic behavior and the tax system that have not been considered together in previous studies. Chapter 3 applies the model of Chapter 2 to conduct a quantitative normative analysis. Under a utilitarian framework, it is found that durables should be subsidized in presence of pre-commitment and uncertainty and that the optimal combination of taxes on non-durables and labor income crucially depends on the degree of preference heterogeneity. Allowing for a generalized social welfare criterion with varying degrees of government inequality aversion, it is shown that the model can rationalize the tax systems observed in reality.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Essays in public finance and household lifecycle behavior |
| Event: | UCL (University College London) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2019. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10079213 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
