When Estimated Economic Effects Fail the Sniff Test: Tax Examples

Jane Gravelle

National Tax Journal, 2023, vol. 76, issue 3, 621 - 645

Abstract: The gold standard for informing policy makers is when theory, model results, and observations tell a similar story. Some estimated economic effects influence policy but are not reasonable. This paper discusses several tax examples where estimates based on one tool of inquiry are inconsistent with the findings of others. Examples discussed are the luxury-boat tax, the capital gains realization response, the corporate income tax, and the life-cycle model. The common thread in all is that when economists bring all their tools to bear, the results fail the sniff test.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/725855 (application/pdf)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/725855 (text/html)
Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucp:nattax:doi:10.1086/725855

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in National Tax Journal from University of Chicago Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journals Division ().