Empirical Studies in Public Finance

本研究包括三个项目。 第一个问题涉及人口变化对具有年龄特定福利的各类政府支出需求的影响。 虽然美国人口老龄化对社会保障和医疗保险信托基金的影响受到了极大的关注，但对其他类别的政府支出，特别是中小学教育支出的影响相对较少。 该项目利用各州以及个别学区的政府支出构成数据，研究人口构成对公共支出水平的影响。 研究结果将为公众对公共教育支持率下降的其他解释提供见解。 第二个项目的重点是税收补贴和与税收有关的条例对雇主提供的健康保险和其他雇员福利的影响。 这项分析的一个方面是研究有资格获得灵活支出账户（FSA）的个人如何使用这些账户。 这些账户与最近引起广泛关注的“医疗个人退休账户”密切相关。 员工使用FSA的程度，以及他们是否合理估计他们每年的医疗费用来为这些账户提供资金，应该为决策者提供有关医疗IRA的重要信息。 最后一个项目考虑了税收对个人投资组合决策的影响。 利用1986年《税收改革法》提供的税率的丰富变化，以及1983年、1992年和1995年消费者财务调查的数据，研究了在不同的税收情况下，税收规则的变化对家庭持有的资产类型产生了什么样的影响。 由此产生的估计数将提供一个基础，以评估与税收引起的投资组合选择扭曲相关的低效率。

This research consists of three projects. The first concerns the impact of demographic changes on the demand for various types of government spending with age-specific benefits. While the consequences of an aging U.S. population for the Social Security and Medicare trust funds has received substantial attention, the consequences for other categories of government spending, in particular spending on primary and secondary education, are relatively unstudied. This project uses data on the composition of government spending in states, as well as in individual school districts, to study the effect of the population's demographic composition on the level of public spending. The results will provide insights on alternative explanations for declining popular support for public education. A second project focuses on the effect of tax subsidies and tax-related regulations on employer-provided health insurance and other employee benefits. One aspect of this analysis is a study of how individuals who are eligible for Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) use these accounts. These accounts are closely related to "Medical IRAs," which have recently attracted substantial popular attention. The extent to which employees use FSAs, and whether they make reasonable estimates of their annual medical expenses in funding these accounts, should provide important information to decision-makers about Medical IRAs. The final project considers the impact of taxation on individual portfolio decisions. Using the rich variation in tax rates provided by the 1986 Tax Reform Act, and data from the 1983, 1992, and 1995 Surveys of Consumer Finances, the research examines what effect, if any, changing tax rules have had on the types of assets held by households in different tax situations. The resulting estimates will provide a basis for assessing the inefficiencies associated with tax-induced distortions in portfolio choice.