TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kaplow,Louis
TI  - Optimal Income Transfers
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12284
PY  - 2006
Y2  - June 2006
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12284
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12284.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Louis Kaplow
Harvard University
Hauser 322
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/495-4101
Fax: 617/496-4880
E-Mail: moverholt@law.harvard.edu
M2  - featured in NBER digest on 2006-06-05
AB  - A substantial literature addresses the design of transfer programs and policies, including the negative income tax, other means-tested transfers, the earned income tax credit, categorical assistance, and work inducements. This work is largely independent of that on the optimal nonlinear income tax, yet formulations of such a tax necessarily address how low-income individuals should be treated. This paper draws on the optimal income taxation literature to illuminate the analysis of transfer programs, including the level and shape of marginal tax rates (including phase-outs), the structure of categorical assistance, and the role of work inducements in an optimal income transfer scheme.
ER  -