Political preferences for redistribution in Sweden

• We examine preferences for redistribution inherent in Swedish tax policy during 1971-2012 using the inverse optimal tax approach. The income distribution is carefully characterized with the help of administrative register data, and we employ behavioral elasticities reflecting the perceived distortionary effects of taxation. The revealed social welfare weights are high for non-workers, small for low-income earners, and hump-shaped around the median. At the top, they are always negative, especially so during the high-tax years of the 1970s and '80s. The weights on non-workers increased sharply in the 1970s, fell drastically in the late '80s and early '90s, and have since then increased.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Nationalekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Redistribution

Social welfare weights

Optimal taxation

Inverse optimal taxation

Social preferences

Economics

Nationalekonomi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)