TY  - JOUR
AU  - Congdon,William
AU  - Kling,Jeffrey R.
AU  - Mullainathan,Sendhil
TI  - Behavioral Economics and Tax Policy
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15328
PY  - 2009
Y2  - September 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15328
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15328.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
William Congdon
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
E-Mail: wcongdon@brookings.edu

Jeffrey R. Kling
Congressional Budget Office
3403 Ordway St NW
Washington, DC 20016
E-Mail: jeffrey.r.kling@gmail.com

Sendhil Mullainathan
Department of Economics
Littauer M-18
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/496-2720
Fax: 617/495-7730
E-Mail: mullain@fas.harvard.edu
AB  - Behavioral economics is changing our understanding of how economic policy operates, including tax policy. In this paper, we consider some implications of behavioral economics for tax policy, such as how it changes our understanding of the welfare consequences of taxation, the relative desirability of using the tax system as a platform for policy implementation, and the role of taxes as an element of policy design. We do so by reviewing the logic of specific features of tax policy in light of recent findings in areas such as tax salience, program take-up, and fiscal stimulus.
ER  -