Optimum taxation of life annuities

The market for private life annuities is characterised by adverse selection; that is, contracts offer lower than fair payoffs to individuals with low life expectancy. Moreover, longevity and income have been found to be positively correlated. We formulate an optimum income taxation model that incorporates these facts and discuss the conditions under which a linear tax on annuity payoffs, which raises more revenues from long-living individuals than from short-living, can serve as an instrument for redistribution. Further, we consider a nonlinear tax on annuity payoffs, and find that it can be employed to correct the distortion of the rate of return caused by asymmetric information.     

„Asyle“ — Über Goffmans Analyse und Kritik sozialer Ausgrenzung und Kontrolle

Goffman’s “Asylum” still belongs to the most important works treating “total institutions”. Reviewed after nearly fifty years, the enormous impact of this book is still evident. On the other hand, it is evident, too, that it relied to a certain degree on the conditions of its time. In addition, the way the topics were treated appears in different ways insufficient. The article tries to advance Goffman’s concepts by confronting them with the historical development of the way heavy psychic disorders are treated nowadays. As a result, it is proposed to step further ahead by taking Goffman’s proposals on a more abstract level (dealing with specific functions and the way they are treated instead of a fixed type of “institution”). In addition, those dimensions excluded by Goffman’s socio-phenomenological approach — history and psychodynamics — should be reintegrated on a higher level.