Optimal disability insurance with unobservable skill heterogeneity

Kyung-woo Lee

Journal of Public Economics, 2015, vol. 122, issue C, 94-109

Abstract: This paper studies the U.S. income tax and disability insurance systems in a unified framework with relevant private information and a general social welfare function. To that end, I develop a dynamic model in which agents differ in labor productivity and disability status, which are both private information. The optimal allocation can exhibit negative marginal labor income tax rates for high-skilled individuals but zero for low-skilled individuals, which is contrary to standard results. Also, I find that a reform to the optimal system in the calibrated model would significantly improve the U.S. system. The welfare gains amount to a 3.48 percent increase in consumption with a utilitarian social welfare function, which might be larger with a non-utilitarian function. Better insurance for people in bad states and reduced intratemporal distortions account for almost all the welfare gains. However, intertemporal distortions do not appear to play a major role.

Keywords: Disability insurance; Income taxation; Social security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:122:y:2015:i:c:p:94-109

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.11.004

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