Tagging and Redistributive Taxation

We study the optimal redistributive tax structure when the population can be disaggregated into tagged groups. We begin with the case in which the tag has no normative significance, but simply separates the population into identifiable groups with different distributions of ability-types. Under reasonable circumstances, the tax system will be more redistributive in the tagged group with the higher proportion of high-ability persons. We then extend the analysis to the case where the tag reflects differences in needs, that is, differences in the resources required to achieve a given level of utility, for example, due to a medical condition or a disability. The amount of compensation given for needs depends on whether the income tax structure is differentiated by needs groups.optimal income tax, tagging, needs

Encoding Tight Typing in a Unified Framework

This paper explores how the intersection type theories of call-by-name (CBN) and call-by-value (CBV) can be unified in a more general framework provided by call-by-push-value (CBPV). Indeed, we propose tight type systems for CBN and CBV that can be both encoded in a unique tight type system for CBPV. All such systems are quantitative, i.e. they provide exact information about the length of normalization sequences to normal form as well as the size of these normal forms. Moreover, the length of reduction sequences are discriminated according to their multiplicative and exponential nature, a concept inherited from linear logic. Last but not least, it is possible to extract quantitative measures for CBN and CBV from their corresponding encodings in CBPV

Useful Open Call-By-Need

This paper studies useful sharing, which is a sophisticated optimization for ?-calculi, in the context of call-by-need evaluation in presence of open terms. Useful sharing turns out to be harder in call-by-need than in call-by-name or call-by-value, because call-by-need evaluates inside environments, making it harder to specify when a substitution step is useful. We isolate the key involved concepts and prove the correctness and the completeness of useful sharing in this setting

Intersection types and (positive) almost-sure termination

Randomized higher-order computation can be seen as being captured by a λ-calculus endowed with a single algebraic operation, namely a construct for binary probabilistic choice. What matters about such computations is the probability of obtaining any given result, rather than the possibility or the necessity of obtaining it, like in (non)deterministic computation. Termination, arguably the simplest kind of reachability problem, can be spelled out in at least two ways, depending on whether it talks about the probability of convergence or about the expected evaluation time, the second one providing a stronger guarantee. In this paper, we show that intersection types are capable of precisely characterizing both notions of termination inside a single system of types: the probability of convergence of any λ-term can be underapproximated by its type, while the underlying derivation's weight gives a lower bound to the term's expected number of steps to normal form. Noticeably, both approximations are tight-not only soundness but also completeness holds. The crucial ingredient is non-idempotency, without which it would be impossible to reason on the expected number of reduction steps which are necessary to completely evaluate any term. Besides, the kind of approximation we obtain is proved to be optimal recursion theoretically: no recursively enumerable formal system can do better than that

A Quantitative Understanding of Pattern Matching

This paper shows that the recent approach to quantitative typing systems for programming languages can be extended to pattern matching features. Indeed, we define two resource-aware type systems, named U and E, for a ?-calculus equipped with pairs for both patterns and terms. Our typing systems borrow some basic ideas from [Antonio Bucciarelli et al., 2015], which characterises (head) normalisation in a qualitative way, in the sense that typability and normalisation coincide. But, in contrast to [Antonio Bucciarelli et al., 2015], our systems also provide quantitative information about the dynamics of the calculus. Indeed, system U provides upper bounds for the length of (head) normalisation sequences plus the size of their corresponding normal forms, while system E, which can be seen as a refinement of system U, produces exact bounds for each of them. This is achieved by means of a non-idempotent intersection type system equipped with different technical tools. First of all, we use product types to type pairs instead of the disjoint unions in [Antonio Bucciarelli et al., 2015], which turn out to be an essential quantitative tool because they remove the confusion between "being a pair" and "being duplicable". Secondly, typing sequents in system E are decorated with tuples of integers, which provide quantitative information about normalisation sequences, notably time (cf. length) and space (cf. size). Moreover, the time resource information is remarkably refined, because it discriminates between different kinds of reduction steps performed during evaluation, so that beta, substitution and matching steps are counted separately. Another key tool of system E is that the type system distinguishes between consuming (contributing to time) and persistent (contributing to space) constructors

Intersection Types and (Positive) Almost-Sure Termination

Randomized higher-order computation can be seen as being captured by a lambda calculus endowed with a single algebraic operation, namely a construct for binary probabilistic choice. What matters about such computations is the probability of obtaining any given result, rather than the possibility or the necessity of obtaining it, like in (non)deterministic computation. Termination, arguably the simplest kind of reachability problem, can be spelled out in at least two ways, depending on whether it talks about the probability of convergence or about the expected evaluation time, the second one providing a stronger guarantee. In this paper, we show that intersection types are capable of precisely characterizing both notions of termination inside a single system of types: the probability of convergence of any lambda-term can be underapproximated by its type, while the underlying derivation's weight gives a lower bound to the term's expected number of steps to normal form. Noticeably, both approximations are tight -- not only soundness but also completeness holds. The crucial ingredient is non-idempotency, without which it would be impossible to reason on the expected number of reduction steps which are necessary to completely evaluate any term. Besides, the kind of approximation we obtain is proved to be optimal recursion theoretically: no recursively enumerable formal system can do better than that

The Bang Calculus Revisited

Call-by-Push-Value (CBPV) is a programming paradigm subsuming both Call-by-Name (CBN) and Call-by-Value (CBV) semantics. The paradigm was recently modelled by means of the Bang Calculus, a term language connecting CBPV and Linear Logic. This paper presents a revisited version of the Bang Calculus, called $\lambda !$, enjoying some important properties missing in the original system. Indeed, the new calculus integrates commutative conversions to unblock value redexes while being confluent at the same time. A second contribution is related to non-idempotent types. We provide a quantitative type system for our $\lambda !$-calculus, and we show that the length of the (weak) reduction of a typed term to its normal form \emph{plus} the size of this normal form is bounded by the size of its type derivation. We also explore the properties of this type system with respect to CBN/CBV translations. We keep the original CBN translation from $\lambda$-calculus to the Bang Calculus, which preserves normal forms and is sound and complete with respect to the (quantitative) type system for CBN. However, in the case of CBV, we reformulate both the translation and the type system to restore two main properties: preservation of normal forms and completeness. Last but not least, the quantitative system is refined to a \emph{tight} one, which transforms the previous upper bound on the length of reduction to normal form plus its size into two independent \emph{exact} measures for them

The (In)Efficiency of interaction

Evaluating higher-order functional programs through abstract machines inspired by the geometry of the interaction is known to induce space efficiencies, the price being time performances often poorer than those obtainable with traditional, environment-based, abstract machines. Although families of lambda-terms for which the former is exponentially less efficient than the latter do exist, it is currently unknown how general this phenomenon is, and how far the inefficiencies can go, in the worst case. We answer these questions formulating four different well-known abstract machines inside a common definitional framework, this way being able to give sharp results about the relative time efficiencies. We also prove that non-idempotent intersection type theories are able to precisely reflect the time performances of the interactive abstract machine, this way showing that its time-inefficiency ultimately descends from the presence of higher-order types