scholarly journals Estate Taxation with Altruism Heterogeneity

2013 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Farhi ◽  
Iván Werning
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Optimal Policy ◽  
Parental Altruism ◽  
Estate Taxation ◽  
Wide Range

We develop a theory of optimal estate taxation in a model where bequest inequality is driven by differences in parental altruism. We show that a wide range of results are possible, from positive taxes to subsidies. The results depend on redistributive objectives implicit in the cardinal specification of utility and social welfare functions. We propose a normalization that is helpful in classifying these different possibilities. We isolate cases where the optimal policy bans negative bequests and taxes positive bequests, features present in most advanced countries.

scholarly journals Optimal Policy with Heterogeneous Preferences

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Kaplow
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Optimal Policy ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Social Welfare Function ◽  
Income Taxation ◽  
Heterogeneous Preferences ◽  
Commodity Taxation ◽  
Policy Rules ◽  
The Social

Abstract Optimal policy rules—including those regarding income taxation, commodity taxation, public goods, and externalities—are typically derived in models with homogeneous preferences. This article reconsiders many central results for the case in which preferences for commodities, public goods, and externalities are heterogeneous. When preference differences are observable, standard second-best results in basic settings are unaffected, except those for the optimal income tax. Optimal levels of income taxation may be higher, the same, or lower on types who derive more utility from various goods, depending on the nature of preference differences and the concavity of the social welfare function. When preference differences are unobservable, all policy rules may change. The determinants of even the direction of optimal rule adjustments are many and subtle.

scholarly journals Cards on the Table: Efficiency and Welfare Effects of the No-Surcharge Rule

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Henriques
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Optimal Policy ◽  
Network Externalities ◽  
Welfare Effects ◽  
Retail Price ◽  
Electronic Payment ◽  
Price Efficiency ◽  
Payment Card ◽  
The Social ◽  
Card Payment

Abstract In Electronic Payment Networks (EPNs), the No-Surcharge Rule (NSR) requires that merchants charge at most the same amount for a payment card transaction as for cash. In this paper, I use a three-party model (consumers, local monopolistic merchants, and a proprietary EPN) with endogenous transaction volumes, heterogeneous card use benefits for merchants and network externalities of card-accepting merchants on cardholders to assess the efficiency and welfare effects of the NSR. I show that the NSR: (i) promotes retail price efficiency for cardholders, and (ii) inefficiently reduces card acceptance among merchants. The NSR can enhance social welfare and improve payment efficiency by shifting output from cash payers to cardholders. However, if network externalities are sufficiently strong, the reduction of card payment acceptance affects cardholders negatively and, with the exception of the EPN, all agents will be worse off under the NSR. This paper also suggests that the NSR may be an instrument to decrease cash usage, but the social optimal policy on the NSR may depend on the competitive conditions in each market.

scholarly journals Coordination Effects and Optimal Policy Choices of Macroprudential Policy and Monetary Policy

Complexity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Haifeng Pan ◽  
Dingsheng Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Optimal Policy ◽  
Real Estate Market ◽  
Macroprudential Policy ◽  
Monetary Policies ◽  
Policy Rules ◽  
Monetary Policy Rules ◽  
Macroprudential Policies ◽  
Dynamic Stochastic

Considering three monetary policy rules, together with two endogenous macroprudential policies that are credit constraints (loan to value, LTV) for households and counter-cyclical capital (capital requirement ratio, CRR) for bankers, this paper establishes a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. Based on the welfare analysis of different combinations of macroprudential rules and monetary policy rules, this paper identifies the optimal policy combinations and analyzes the coordination effects between macroprudential policies and monetary policies. The results show that no matter what kind of monetary policy rules is implemented, the introduction of macroprudential rules has improved the level of total social welfare. In the optimal “two pillars” framework of monetary policies and macroprudential rules, the main objective of monetary policy is to stabilize price inflation, and the macroprudential policy to be implemented is the CRR macroprudential policy. This combination can effectively promote the stability of the real estate market, financial market, and macroeconomy, while maximizing the improvement of total social welfare.

scholarly journals Managing Appointment Booking Under Customer Choices

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (9) ◽  
pp. 4280-4298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Liu ◽  
Peter M. van de Ven ◽  
Bo Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Operations Management ◽  
Optimal Policy ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Constant Factor ◽  
Customer Preference ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Demand And Capacity ◽  
Single Set

Motivated by the increasing use of online appointment booking platforms, we study how to offer appointment slots to customers to maximize the total number of slots booked. We develop two models, nonsequential offering and sequential offering, to capture different types of interactions between customers and the scheduling system. In these two models, the scheduler offers either a single set of appointment slots for the arriving customer to choose from or multiple sets in sequence, respectively. For the nonsequential model, we identify a static randomized policy, which is asymptotically optimal when the system demand and capacity increase simultaneously, and we further show that offering all available slots at all times has a constant factor of two performance guarantee. For the sequential model, we derive a closed form optimal policy for a large class of instances and develop a simple, effective heuristic for those instances without an explicit optimal policy. By comparing these two models, our study generates useful operational insights for improving the current appointment booking processes. In particular, our analysis reveals an interesting equivalence between the sequential offering model and the nonsequential offering model with perfect customer preference information. This equivalence allows us to apply sequential offering in a wide range of interactive scheduling contexts. Our extensive numerical study shows that sequential offering can significantly improve the slot fill rate (6%–8% on average and up to 18% in our testing cases) compared with nonsequential offering. Given the recent and ongoing growth of online and mobile appointment booking platforms, our research findings can be particularly useful to inform user interface design of these booking platforms. This paper was accepted by Gad Allon, operations management.

Substantive Divergence: The Meaning of Public Opinion on Government Spending in Red and Blue

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Katherine Krimmel ◽  
Kelly Rader
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Social Welfare Programs ◽  
Government Functions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Original Survey

We examine the substantive meaning of public opinion on government spending using open-ended data from an original survey. Belying the conventional wisdom on this subject, we find that public opinion on government spending is not reducible to views on social welfare programs. While most people do have specific associations with spending, in the aggregate, public associations span a wide range of government functions. Balance does not necessarily mean harmony, however. We find strong evidence of what we call substantive divergence along party lines in this area—when they think about spending, Republicans and Democrats envision different bundles of goods and services, on average. This is true even for opposing partisans with the same overall assessment of spending (e.g., those who say government spends too much). These findings bring fiscal conflict into sharper relief and also have broader implications for the conceptualization and measurement of differences across parties, as well as other political cleavages.

Optimal maintenance strategies for repairable systems with general degree of repair

1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (02) ◽  
pp. 384-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Stadje ◽  
Dror Zuckerman
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Policy ◽  
Planning Horizon ◽  
Spare Parts ◽  
Inventory Systems ◽  
Maintenance Strategy ◽  
Repairable Systems ◽  
Discounted Cost ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Optimal Maintenance ◽  
New Research

In this study we examine repairable systems with random lifetime. Upon failure, a maintenance action, specifying the degree of repair, is taken by a controller. The objective is to determine an age-dependent maintenance strategy which minimizes the total expected discounted cost over an infinite planning horizon. Using several properties of the optimal policy which are derived in this study, we propose analytical and numerical methods for determining the optimal maintenance strategy. In order to obtain a better insight regarding the structure and nature of the optimal policy and to illustrate computational procedures, a numerical example is analysed. The proposed maintenance model outlines a new research channel in the area of reliability with interesting theoretical issues and a wide range of potential applications in various fields such as product design, inventory systems for spare parts, and management of maintenance crews.

scholarly journals Prediction of drug abuse recurrence: a Swedish National Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 1367-1374 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Kendler ◽  
H. Ohlsson ◽  
K. Sundquist ◽  
J. Sundquist
Keyword(s):  
Drug Abuse ◽  
General Population ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Risk Index ◽  
School Achievement ◽  
Population Sample ◽  
National Study ◽  
Wide Range

AbstractBackgroundRelapse from drug abuse (DA) is common, but has rarely been studied in general population samples using a wide range of objective predictors.MethodUsing nationwide registries, we ascertained 44 523 subjects first registered for DA between the ages of 15 and 40 in 1998 to 2004 and followed for 8 years. We predicted relapse in subjects defined as a second DA registration. We also predicted DA relapse in relative pairs concordant for DA but discordant for relapse.ResultsIn multivariate regression analyses, the strongest predictors for relapse were prior criminal behavior, male sex, being on social welfare, low school achievement, prior alcoholism, and a high-risk father. A risk index trained from these analyses on random split-halves demonstrated a risk ratio of 1.11 [95% confidence intervals (CIs) 1.10–1.11] per decile and an ROC value of 0.70 (0.69–0.71). Co-relative analyses indicated that a modest proportion of this association was causal, with the remainder arising from familial confounders. A developmental structural equation model revealed a complex interviewing of risk pathways to DA with three key mediational hubs: low educational attainment, early age at first registration, and being on social welfare.ConclusionsIn a general population sample, using objective registry information, DA relapse is substantially predictable. However, the identified risk factors may not be valid targets for interventions because many index familial risk and may not impact causally on probability of relapse. Risk for DA relapse may reflect an inter-weaving, over developmental time, of genetic–temperamental vulnerability, indices of externalizing behaviors and social factors reflecting deprivation.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of Employment Vouchers: A Simple Approach

2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Michael Orszag ◽  
Dennis J. Snower
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Policy ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Unemployment Benefits ◽  
Government Budget ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Government ◽  
Hiring And Firing

Abstract This paper explores the optimal design of subsidies for hiring unemployed workers (`employment vouchers' for short) in the context of a simple dynamic model of the labour market. Focusing on the short-term and long-term effects of the vouchers on employment and unemployment, the analysis shows how the optimal policy depends on the rates of hiring and firing, and on the problems of displacement and deadweight. It also examines the roles of the government budget constraint and of the level of unemployment benefits in optimal policy design. We calibrate the model and evaluate the effectiveness of employment vouchers in reducing unemployment for a wide range of feasible parameters.

When to Play Your Advertisement? Optimal Insertion Policy of Behavioral Advertisement

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 589-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subodha Kumar ◽  
Yinliang (Ricky) Tan ◽  
Lai Wei
Keyword(s):  
Price Discrimination ◽  
Simulation Study ◽  
Optimal Policy ◽  
Target Level ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Threshold Policy ◽  
Wearable Technologies ◽  
Display Advertising ◽  
New Information ◽  
Wide Range

Digital advertisements offer a full spectrum of behavioral customization for timing and content capabilities. The existing research in display advertising has predominantly concentrated on the content of advertising; however, our focus is on optimizing the timing of display advertising. In practice, users are constantly adjusting their engagement with content as they process new information continuously. The recent development of emotional tracking and wearable technologies allows platforms to monitor the user’s engagement in real time. The proposed optimal policy regarding the timing of behavioral advertising is based on a threshold policy with a trigger threshold and target level. Analogous to the familiar idea of “price discrimination,” the methods we propose in this study allow the platforms to maximize their revenue by “discriminatory” customization of the timing and length of the advertisement based on the behavior of individual users. Finally, we quantify the benefits of the proposed policy by comparing it with the practically prevalent policies (i.e., preroll, midroll, and a mix of the two) through a simulation study. Our results reveal that, for a wide range of settings, the proposed policy not only significantly increases the platform’s profitability but also improves the completion rate at which consumers finish viewing the advertisement.

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