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Genes As Tags: The Tax Implications Of Widely Available Genetic Information, Kyle D. Logue, Joel Slemrod
Genes As Tags: The Tax Implications Of Widely Available Genetic Information, Kyle D. Logue, Joel Slemrod
Articles
Advances in genetic research promise to loosen the tradeoff between progressivity and effi ciency by allowing tax liability (or transfer eligibility) to be based in part on immutable characteristics of individuals (“tags”) that are correlated with their expected lot in life. Use of genetic tags would reduce reliance on tax bases (such as income) that are subject to individual choices and, therefore, subject to ineffi cient distortion to those choices. If genetic information can be used by private employers and insurers, the case for basing tax in part on it becomes more compelling, as genetic inequalities would be exacerbated by …
The Un-Easy Case For Technological Optimism, James E. Krier, Clayton P. Gillette
The Un-Easy Case For Technological Optimism, James E. Krier, Clayton P. Gillette
Articles
"Technological optimism" is a term of art, an article of faith, and a theory of politics. It is a view that pervades modem attitudes, yet gets little explicit attention. For a brief period the situation was otherwise. In the early 1970s, the optimistic outlook figured prominently in an important debate about nothing less than the future of the world. Technological optimism won. The outcome was unsurprising, given the nature of the argument. On one side of the debate was a group of self-proclaimed Malthusians who foresaw an impending period of stark scarcity unless relatively drastic remedial steps were quickly taken; …