Taming Private Leviathans : Regulation versus Taxation
This paper explores the interplay between concentration of wealth and policies, namely regulation and taxation. The paper exploits variation in exposure to international commodity prices. Using a global panel data set of the net worth of billionair...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/786871611944325225/Taming-Private-Leviathans-Regulation-versus-Taxation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35104 |
| Summary: | This paper explores the interplay
between concentration of wealth and policies, namely
regulation and taxation. The paper exploits variation in
exposure to international commodity prices. Using a global
panel data set of the net worth of billionaires, the results
point to a positive relationship between commodity prices
and the concentration of wealth at the top. Regulation
especially pertaining to competition is found to limit the
effects of commodity price shocks on the concentration of
wealth, while taxation has little effect. Moreover,
commodity price shocks crowd out non-resource tax revenue,
hence limiting the scope for income transfers and
redistribution. The results are consistent with the primacy
of ex ante interventions over ex post ones for addressing
wealth inequality. |
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