Search Results
Working Paper
Heterogeneity in the Pass-Through from Oil to Gasoline Prices: A New Instrument for Estimating the Price Elasticity of Gasoline Demand
We propose a new instrument for estimating the price elasticity of gasoline demand that exploits systematic differences across U.S. states in the pass-through of oil price shocks to retail gasoline prices. We show that these differences are primarily driven by the cost of producing and distributing gasoline, which varies with states’ access to oil and gasoline transportation infrastructure, refinery technology and environmental regulations, creating cross-sectional gasoline price shocks in response to an aggregate oil price shock. Time-varying estimates do not support the view that the ...
Working Paper
Personal Tax Changes and Financial Well-being: Evidence from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
We estimate the effects of personal income tax decreases on financial well-being, including qualitative subjective assessments and quantitative measures. A plausibly causal design shows that tax decreases in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made survey respondents more likely to say they were "living comfortably" financially, with null effects at lower levels of subjective financial well-being. Estimates from a similar design using credit bureau data show that people who had larger tax decreases were modestly more likely to open new accounts, and more likely to have higher consumer credit balances. ...
Journal Article
Savings programs associated with VITA
There are thousands of Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites across the country and more than 250 in Texas. Located at libraries, community colleges, churches and community-based organizations, these sites pop up during tax season in areas accessible to low- and moderate-income (LMI) workers.
Working Paper
Taxes and International Risk Sharing
We examine the extent to which differences in international tax rates may account for the small correlations of per capita consumption fluctuations across countries. Theory implies a close relationship between relative consumption growth, and consumption and capital income tax rate differentials. We find strong empirical evidence for this relationship. Idiosyncratic output fluctuations account for the majority of cross country consumption growth variability, but trends in tax differentials are informative about the dynamic evolution of international risk sharing. In particular, adjusting for ...
The Impact of Tax Differences on Intrafirm Patent Transactions
An analysis of global patent transfers found that international tax differences impact patent transactions between parent companies and foreign subsidiaries.
Journal Article
Did the Fiscal Stimulus Work?
Billions were spent to recover from the Great Recession. How can we know whether taxpayers got a decent bang for the buck? More than seven years after the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, economists, legislators, and the American people continue to debate the effectiveness of the measure. The largest U.S. fiscal stimulus since the 1930s, the Recovery Act pumped hundreds of billions of dollars of federal spending and tax cuts into the economy in an effort to stem the massive job losses and steep drop in economic output that characterized the Great Recession. The ...
Individuals, married couples respond differently to U.S. income tax changes
Changes in effective income taxes can impact labor supply with different outcomes for married couples and singles, and changes can have a particularly notable impact on married women.
The Puzzle of Multinationals’ Profits: Why Tax Havens Yield Higher Returns
An analysis examines how U.S. multinationals’ tax and profit-shifting strategies might affect yields on direct investment in tax havens versus G7 economies.
Unpacking Discrepancies in American and Irish Royalty Reporting
Ireland’s elimination of a controversial tax avoidance strategy appears to be driving a recent increase in royalty payments from Ireland to the U.S.
Journal Article
Marketization of Home Production and Gender Gaps in Working Hours
Gender gaps in working hours vary widely across member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This article summarizes the key results from Duval-Hernández, Fang, and Ngai (2021), who study the source of cross-country differences and what kind of policies can reduce the gap in working hours between women and men.