Spreading the wealth around
Subtitle: reflections inspired by joe the plumber
By: N. Gregory Mankiw
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 15846; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 15846.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] :
Description: "This essay discusses the policy debate concerning optimal taxation and the distribution of income.  It begins with a brief overview of trends in income inequality, the leading hypothesis to explain these trends, and the distribution of the tax burden.  It then considers the framework that economists use to address the normative problem of designing tax systems.  The conventional utilitarian approach is found to be wanting, as it leads to prescriptions that conflict with many individuals' moral intuitions.  The essay then explores an alternative normative framework, dubbed the Just Deserts Theory, according to which an individual's compensation should reflect his or her social contribution"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 4/1/2010.

Includes bibliographical references.

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Mode of access: World Wide Web.