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About the Author(s)

Hunt Allcott 

Hunt Allcott is a research associate affiliated with the NBER’s Public Economics, Industrial Organization, and Environmental and Energy Economics Programs. He is a professor of global environmental policy at Stanford University, a codirector of the Stanford Environmental and Energy Policy Analysis Center, an affiliate of ideas42 and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), and a member of the board of editors of American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. Allcott received his BS and MS in engineering from Stanford in 2002 and his PhD in public policy from Harvard University in 2009. He grew up in Oregon and now lives in Palo Alto, California with his wife.

Benjamin Lockwood 

Benjamin Lockwood is a faculty research fellow in the NBER’s Public Economics Program. He is the Clarence Nickman Assistant Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Lockwood’s research focuses on optimal taxation and regulation in settings where policymakers are concerned about reducing inequality and changing behavior. He received his BA in philosophy and economics from Amherst College in 2008 and his PhD in economics from Harvard University in 2016. Lockwood grew up in Idaho and now lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and three children.

Dmitry Taubinsky

Dmitry Taubinsky is a research associate affiliated with the NBER’s Public Economics Program and an associate professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his BA in applied mathematics in 2009 and his PhD in economics in 2014, both from Harvard University. Using a combination of theory, field experiments, surveys, and quasi-experiments, Taubinsky studies topics such as inattention to and misunderstanding of complex tax incentives, “sin taxes” on goods such as sugary drinks, consumer-facing energy policy, and regulation welfare effects of non-standard policy levers such as information labels, social recognition and financial decision-making by low-income populations such as payday-loan borrowers. Taubinsky grew up in California, where he currently lives with his wife and two children.

Endnotes

1. The Economics of Welfare, Pigou A. London: Macmillan and Co., 1920. Go to ⤴︎
2.  “Energy Policy with Externalities and Internalities,” Allcott H, Mullainathan S, Taubinsky D. NBER Working Paper 17977, January 2014, and Journal of Public Economics 112, April 2014, pp. 72–88. Go to ⤴︎
3.  “Optimal Sin Taxes,” O’Donoghue T, Rabin M. Journal of Public Economics 90(10-11), November 2006, pp. 1825–1849. Go to ⤴︎
4.  “Regressive Sin Taxes, with an Application to the Optimal Soda Tax,” Allcott H, Lockwood B, Taubinsky D. NBER Working Paper 25841, May 2019, and The Q uarterly Journal of Economics 134(3), August 2019, pp. 1557–1626.   Go to ⤴︎
5. “Sufficient Statistics for Nonlinear Tax Systems with General Across-Income Heterogeneity,” Ferey A, Lockwood B, Taubinsky D. NBER Working Paper 29582, April 2022. Go to ⤴︎
6. Should We Tax Sugar-Sweetened Beverages? An Overview of Theory and Evidence,” Allcott H, Lockwood B, Taubinsky D. NBER Working Paper 25842, May 2019, and Journal of Economic Perspectives 33(3), Summer 2019, pp. 202–227. Go to ⤴︎
7.  “State and Local Backgrounders: Soda Taxes.” Urban Institute, March 2022. Go to ⤴︎
8.  “The Lightbulb Paradox: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments,” Allcott H, Taubinsky D. NBER Working Paper 19713, August 2014. Published as “Evaluating Behaviorally Motivated Policy: Experimental Evidence from the Lightbulb Market,” American Economic Review 105(8), August 2015, pp. 2501–2538. Go to ⤴︎
9. Are Consumers Poorly Informed about Fuel Economy? Evidence from Two Experiments,” Allcott H, Knittel C. NBER Working Paper 23076, February 2018, and American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 11(1), February 2019, pp. 1–37.   Go to ⤴︎
10. Gasoline Prices, Fuel Economy, and the Energy Paradox,” Allcott H, Knittel C. NBER Working Paper 18583, November 2012, and Review of Economics and Statistics 96(5), December 2014, pp. 779–795. Return to Text Go to ⤴︎
11. What Drives Demand for State-Run Lotteries? Evidence and Welfare Implications,” Lockwood B, Allcott H, Taubinsky D, Sial A. NBER Working Paper 28975, March 2022. Go to ⤴︎

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