Sunday, May 20, 2007

What is new in the world of econ - Part 5: Tax the Tall!

要如何課稅是一個非重要的問題!

課稅本身就是一個違反經濟思考的東西,經濟學講求efficiency,但是課稅很多時後是講求equality。這兩者之間要如何做最適當的trade off是非常重要的課題。有錢人課太多會影響他工作意願,成時報稅,等問題。

這研究從Mirrlees的突破性研究到現在還沒有一個確定的答案。

而最近Mankiw 跟他的學生做了一項非常新鮮的研究:

Mr. Mankiw and Mr. Weinzierl cite their own and others' research that thereis a strong correlation between height and income. By their calculations, a tall person (six feet or higher) earns on average 16 percent more than a short person (five foot nine or less). The authors argue that according totheory, height is a great criterion for income redistribution: tax tallpeople more and give the money to short people.
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/mankiw/papers/Optimal_Taxation.pdf

我非常贊成這個研究的結果!!

No comments: