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한국개발연구. Vol. 12, No. 4, December 1990, pp. 97-111

https://doi.org/10.23895/kdijep.1991.12.4.97

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Equity-Efficiency Trade-off : the Case of Inheritance Tax (Written in Korean)

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Abstract

This paper examines the effect of redistributive inheritance tax on income distribution and social welfare. The model used here is the Overlapping-Generations Model consisting of individuals with different bequest motives where the lifetime income distribution in each cohort is determined endogenously by the dynamic bequest process. It is shown that the introduction of redistributive inheritance tax can improve the vertical equity in the sense that the increase in tax rate reduces the coefficient of variations of intra-cohort income distribution in steady-state. However, it is also shown that, the effect on social welfare, when measured by Benthamite SWF, is uncertain in general. The numerical simulations show that, in spite of its equity-enhancing effect, the tax increase can actually lower the steady-state social welfare within the plausible range of parametric values, through the long-run output effect as well as the deadweight welfare loss incurred by tax distortion. Hence, the problem of equity-efficiency trade-off can arise in this case. However, if both the market interest rate and the elasticity of marginal Utility in individual’s preference function are sufficiently high, it is shown to be possible that the steady-state social welfare is enhanced by the introduction of inheritance tax.

JEL Code

H21, H23, H22

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