This paper reviews recent developments in the theory and practice of optimal capital
taxation. We emphasize three main rationales for capital taxation. First, the frontier between …

The racial wealth gap is the largest of the economic disparities between Black and white
Americans, with a white-to-Black per capita wealth ratio of 6 to 1. It is also among the most …

The difference in the average wealth of Black and white Americans narrowed in the first
century after the Civil War, but remained large and even widened again after 1980. Given …

Wealth inequality has been sharply rising in the United States and across many other high-
income countries. Due to a lack of data, we know little about how this trend has unfolded …

Discretion versus Algorithms: Bureaucrats and Tax Equity in Senegal Page 1 Discretion versus
Algorithms: Bureaucrats and Tax Equity in Senegal Justine Knebelmann (MIT-JPAL) Victor …

This paper studies the role of technology in local-government tax collection capacity in the
developing world. We first conduct a new census of all local governments in Ghana to …

Using administrative data on wealth, firm ownership structure, and migration in Sweden and
Denmark, we document international migration patterns among the very wealthy, their …

We study how tax incentives affect charitable giving using two quasi-experiments from
Norway. First, using a shock to wealth tax exposure, we estimate the semi-elasticity of giving …

Property taxes impact the housing distribution across generations. Low property taxes lead
to concentrated ownership among elderly empty-nesters, limiting housing for financially …

Today's US property tax is far different from the general property tax in effect in the early
1900s—the tax that was the major initial focus of the National Tax Association. Property tax …