[Seminaire CREM] Présentation de Gabriel Loumeau, Institute of Economic Research, University of Neuchâtel (Suisse) - Faculté Des Sciences Economiques

Abstract:
This paper provides causal evidence that taxing property is less distortionary than taxing income, a proposition dating back to the physiocrats. Before the French Revolution, France’s principal direct tax, the Taille, was levied on income in the north and on property in the south, while parish-level tax liabilities were determined by a common administrative system. We combine genealogical records on 12 million individuals since 1500, including occupations and migration, with spatial regression discontinuity and difference-in-differences designs. Property-tax regions exhibit greater manufacturing employment and urban development, but no population response: taxation reallocated activity across occupations rather than people across space. Income per capita was also higher. The evidence supports a model in which income taxation distorts entrepreneurial effort and occupational choice, whereas property taxation operates as a lump-sum levy.

Co-écrit avec Tommaso Giommoni & Marko Köthenbürger