TY  - JOUR
AU  - Mankiw,N. Gregory
TI  - Spreading the Wealth Around:  Reflections Inspired by Joe the Plumber
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15846
PY  - 2010
Y2  - March 2010
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15846
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15846.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
N. Gregory Mankiw
Department of Economics
Littauer 223
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/495-4301
Fax: 617/495-7730
E-Mail: ngmankiw@fas.harvard.edu
AB  - This essay discusses the policy debate concerning optimal taxation and the distribution of income.  It begins with a brief overview of trends in income inequality, the leading hypothesis to explain these trends, and the distribution of the tax burden.  It then considers the framework that economists use to address the normative problem of designing tax systems.  The conventional utilitarian approach is found to be wanting, as it leads to prescriptions that conflict with many individuals’ moral intuitions.  The essay then explores an alternative normative framework, dubbed the Just Deserts Theory, according to which an individual’s compensation should reflect his or her social contribution.
ER  -