Nuffield College

About: Nuffield College is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Politics & Population. The organization has 556 authors who have published 1571 publications receiving 131209 citations.

An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation

Abstract: you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We enable the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. 1. INTRODUCTION One would suppose that in any economic system where equality is valued, progressive income taxation would be an important instrument of policy. Even in a highly socialist economy, where all who work are employed by the State, the shadow price of highly skilled labour should surely be considerably greater than the disposable income actually available to the labourer. In Western Europe and America, tax rates on both high and low incomes are widely and lengthily discussed3: but there is virtually no relevant economic theory to appeal to, despite the importance of the tax. Redistributive progressive taxation is usually related to a man's income (or, rather, his estimated income). One might obtain information about a man's income-earning potential from his apparent I.Q., the number of his degrees, his address, age or colour: but the natural, and one would suppose the most reliable, indicator of his income-earning potential is his income. As a result of using men's economic performance as evidence of their economic potentialities, complete equality of social marginal utilities of income ceases to be desirable, for the tax system that would bring about that result would completely discourage unpleasant work. The questions therefore arise what principles should govern an optimum income tax; what such a tax schedule would look like; and what degree of inequality would remain once it was established. The problem seems to be a rather difficult one even in the simplest cases. In this paper, I make the following simplifying assumptions: (1) Intertemporal problems are ignored. It is usual to levy income tax upon each year's income, with only limited possibilities of transferring one year's income to another for tax purposes. In an optimum system, one would no doubt wish …

Filtering via Simulation: Auxiliary Particle Filters

Abstract: This article analyses the recently suggested particle approach to filtering time series. We suggest that the algorithm is not robust to outliers for two reasons: the design of the simulators and the use of the discrete support to represent the sequentially updating prior distribution. Here we tackle the first of these problems.

Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models

Abstract: In this paper we consider estimation of the autoregressive error components model. When the autoregressive parameter is moderately large and the number of time series observations is moderately small, the usual Generalised Methods of Moments (GMM) estimator obtained after first differencing has been found to be poorly behaved. Here we consider alternative linear estimators that are designed to improve the properties of the standard first-differenced GMM estimator. We consider two approaches to estimation. The first approach extends the model by adding the observed initial values as an extra regressor. This allows consistent estimates to be obtained by error-components GLS. This estimator is shown to be equivalent to the optimal GMM estimator for the normal homoskedastic error components model. The second approach considers a mild restriction on the initial condition process under which lagged differences in the dependent variable can be used to construct linear moment conditions in the levels equations. The complete set of moment conditions can then be exploited by a linear GMM estimator in a system of first-differenced and levels equations, rendering the non-linear moment conditions redundant for estimation. This estimator is strictly more efficient than non-linear GMM when the additional restriction is valid. Monte Carlo simulations are reported which demonstrate the dramatic improvement in performance of the proposed estimators compared to the usual first-differenced GMM estimator, especially for high values of the autoregressive parameter.

Dynamic panel data models: A guide to micro data methods and practice

Abstract: This paper reviews econometric methods for dynamic panel data models, and presents examples that illustrate the use of these procedures The focus is on panels where a large number of individuals or firms are observed for a small number of time periods, typical of applications with microeconomic data The emphasis is on single equation models with autoregressive dynamics and explanatory variables that are not strictly exogenous, and hence on the Generalised Method of Moments estimators that are widely used in this context Two examples using firm-level panels are discussed in detail: a simple autoregressive model for investment rates; and a basic production function