Taxing top wealth: migration responses and their aggregate economic implications

Katrine Jakobsen, Henrik Kleven, Jonas Kolsrud, Camille Landais and Mathilde Munoz

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Using administrative data from Scandinavian countries, we provide evidence on international migration responses to wealth taxes and evaluate their aggregate economic implications. We find significant migration responses among the wealthy: a 1pp increase in the top wealth tax rate decreases the stock of wealthy taxpayers by about 2%. A large fraction of the wealthy are business owners, and their businesses are negatively affected by owner out-migration. The aggregate effects are nevertheless modest: the migration responses to a 1pp increase in the top wealth tax rate reduce employment by 0.02%, investments by 0.07%, and value-added by 0.10%.

JEL-codes: D31 E22 E24 F22 H24 K34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47 pages
Date: 2026-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pbe
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Published in American Economic Review, 1, October, 2026, 116(10), pp. 3674 - 3720. ISSN: 0002-8282

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