This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. ASSA Annual Meeting
  3. 2023
  4. Program
  5. Frontiers of Tax Research
« Back to Results

Frontiers of Tax Research

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (CST)

Hilton Riverside, Grand Salon B Sec 10
Hosted By: National Tax Association
  • Chair: Matthew Weinzierl, Harvard Business School

How Should We Design Parental Leave Policies? Evidence from Two Reforms in Italy

Valeria Zurla
,
Brown University

Abstract

The NTA encourages young scholars at the frontier of research in public finance. Its annual dissertation prize has celebrated the early work of many of today's most influential researchers. In this session, we will hear from this year's finalists and winners of the dissertation prize, getting a glimpse of the frontier in public finance research.

Monitoring for Waste: Evidence from Medicare Audits

Maggie Shi
,
Columbia University

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which public programs should monitor for wasteful expenditure. I study a large Medicare program that monitored for unnecessary healthcare spending, and consider its effect on government savings, provider compliance costs, and patient health. Every dollar Medicare spent on monitoring generated $24–29 in government savings. The majority of savings stem from the deterrence of future care, rather than reclaimed payments from prior care. The health of the marginal patient denied care is not harmed, indicating that monitoring primarily deters unnecessary care. Instead, the main tradeoff to monitoring is the compliance cost it imposes on providers – for every $1,000 in Medicare savings, providers incur $178–218 in higher administrative costs. However, I provide evidence that these costs are driven by the investments providers make to improve compliance, like adopting technology to assess the cost-effectiveness of care, rather than the hassle costs of the monitoring process.

Do Higher Income Taxes on Top Earners Trickle Down? A Local Labor Markets Approach

Paul Kindsgrab
,
University of Michigan

Abstract

TBD

Knocking it Down and Mixing it Up: The Impact of Public Housing Regenerations

Hector Blanco
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract

This paper studies the effects of regenerating public housing into mixed-income developments on local housing markets. In recent decades, London has demolished and rebuilt some of its largest public housing developments while adding market-rate units on-site. We show that these regeneration programs lead to large increases in nearby house prices and rents over a six-year period, although house prices decrease farther away. The results are consistent with strong demand effects from observed amenity improvements near the buildings and downward price pressures from increased supply dominating in the broader area. We provide suggestive evidence that regenerations involving larger socioeconomic composition changes are associated with higher price increases.

Certification and Recertification in Welfare Programs: What Happens When Automation Goes Wrong?

Derek Wu
,
University of Chicago

Abstract

TBD

Discussant(s)
Atul Gupta
,
University of Pennsylvania
Daniel Garrett
,
University of Pennsylvania
Bryan Stuart
,
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Matthew Unrath
,
U.S. Census Bureau
JEL Classifications
  • H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
  • H0 - General