Optimal redistribution with unobservable disability: welfarist versus non-welfarist social objectives

This paper examines the optimal non linear income and commodity tax when the same labor disutility can receive two alternative interpretations, taste for leisure and disability, but the disability is not readily observable. We compare the optimal policyunder alternative social objectives, welfarist and non-welfarist, and conclude that the non-welfarist objective, in which the planner gives a higher weight to the disutility of labour of the disabled individuals, is the only reasonable specification. It has some foundation in the theory of responsability; further, unlike the other specifications it yields an optimal solution that may involve a lower labour supply requirement from disabled individuals.optimal non-linear taxation, quasi-linear preferences, asymmetric information, responsibility

Voting on income-contingent loans for higher education

We consider risk-averse individuals who differ in two characteristics - ability to benefit from education and inherited wealth - and analyze higher education participation under two alternative financing schemes - tax subsidy and (risk-sharing) income-contingent loans. With decreasing absolute risk aversion, wealthier individuals are more likely to undertake higher education despite the fact that, according to the stylized financing schemes we consider, individuals do not pay any up-front financial cost of education. We then determine which financing scheme arises when individuals are allowed to vote between schemes. We show that the degree of risk aversion plays a crucial role in determining which financing scheme obtains a majority, and that the composition of the support group for each financing scheme can be of two different types.

Financing schemes for higher education

Most industrial countries have traditionally subsidized the provision of higher education. Several alternative financing schemes, which rely on larger contributions from students, are being increasingly adopted. Schemes such as income contingent loans, like the Australian Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS), provide insurance against uncertain educational outcomes. This paper analyses alternative financing schemes for higher education, with particular emphasis on the insurance role and its effect on higher education participation.

An efficiency argument for affirmative action in higher education

In a dynamic framework in which generations are linked by educational background, we identify an intergenerational externality that is larger for disadvantaged groups. This provides an argument for affirmative action in higher education based on efficiency alone.

Unequal wages for equal utilities

When educational policy is supplemented by a redistributive income tax, and when individualsdiffer in their ability to benefit from education, the optimal policy is typically rather regressive.Resources are concentrated on the most able individuals in order to get a "cake" as big aspossible to share among individuals through income taxation. In this paper we put forwardanother reason to push for regressive education. It is not linked to heterogeneity in innate ability to benefit from education but to pervasive non-convexities that arise in the optimal income tax problem when individual productivities are endogenous. For simplicity we assume a lineareducation technology and a given total education budget. To give the equal wage outcome thebest chance to emerge, we also assume that individuals have identical learning abilities.Nevertheless, it turns out that in the first-best wage inequality is always preferable to wageequality. Even more surprisingly, this conclusion remains valid in the second-best (unless adhoc restriction on the feasible degree of a wage differentiation are imposed). This is in spite ofthe fact that wage equalization would eliminate any need for distortionary income taxation.education policy, optimal income taxation, equal opportunity

Voting on pensions : sex and marriage

Existing political economy models of pensions focus on age and productivity. In this paper we incorporate two additional individual characteristics: sex and marital status. We ignore the role of age, by assuming that people vote at the start of their life, and characterize the preferred rate of taxation that finances a Beveridgean pension scheme when individuals differ in wage, sex and marital status. We allow for two types of couples: one-breadwinner and two-breadwinner couples. Marriage pools both wage and longevity differences between men and women. Hence singles tend to have more extreme preferred tax rates than couples. We show that the majority voting outcome depends on the relative number of one-breadwinner couples and on the size of derived pension rights.social security, differential longevity, majority voting, individualization of pension rights

A Multifactorial Model of Threat Assessment Activity Applied to Educational Settings

The current study proposed a multifactorial model of threat assessment activity(MFTA) in order to assess the effectiveness of threat management interventions for preventing problematic physical approach and violence in institutes of higher education (Scalora & Bulling, 2007; Scalora, Zimmerman, & Wells, 2008; Scalora, Plank, & Scheoneman, 2009). In order to answer this overarching goal, the current study analyzed a sample of 332 cases reported to a Police Department of a Midwestern University between 2006 and 2016. The MFTA model was statistically tested via a structural equation model. Overall, the results of this study suggested that the MFTA model provided a valid approach to examine the different stages of the threat assessment and management processes. Specifically, the main findings of this model showed threat activity involved a wide pool of individuals who contacted directly and repeatedly several targets and institutions for personal reasons. Factors such as unresolved interpersonal conflicts and severe mental disorder further exacerbated the risk for physically approaching the target. For this reason, most of the threat assessment cases required management strategies that contained the individuals’ behavior and aimed to hinder any additional direct face-to-face contact with the target. The results of the structural equation model suggested these strategies effectively assisted in decreasing problematic behavior over time and preventing violence at a long-term. Implications for future threat management practices were discussed. Advisor: Mario J. Scalor

The Dialogic Turn in Educational Psychology

The increasing presence of and claim for dialogue in today"s society has already had an impact on the theory and practice of learning. Whereas in the past individual and cognitive elements were seen as crucial to learning, since about two decades ago, scientific literature indicates that culture, interaction and dialogue are the key factors. In addition, the research project of highest scientific rank and with most resources dedicated to the study of school education in the Framework Program of the European Union: INCLUD-ED shows that the practices of successful schools around Europe are in line with the dialogic approach to learning. This article presents the dialogic turn in educational psychology, consisting of moving from symbolic conceptions of mind and internalist perspectives that focus on mental schemata of previous knowledge, to theories that see intersubjectivity and communication as the primary factors in learning. The paper deepens on the second approach

Tagging with leisure needs

We study optimal redistributive taxes when individuals differ in two characteristics—earning ability and leisure needs—assumed to be imperfectly correlated. Individuals have private information about their abilities but needs are observable. With different levels of observable needs the population can be separated into groups and needs may be used as a tag.We first assume that the social planner considers individuals should be compensated for their leisure needs and characterize the optimal redistributive policy, and the extent of compensation for needs, with tagging.We also consider an alternative social objective where individuals are deemed responsible for their needs

An efficiency argument for affirmative action in higher education

In a dynamic framework in which generations are linked by educational background, we identify an intergenerational externality that is larger for disadvantaged groups. This provides an argument for affirmative action in higher education based on efficiency alone