DP3099 Redistribution and Education Subsidies are Siamese Twins

• Lans Bovenberg Bas Jacobs
12 Dec 2001

We develop a model of human capital formation with endogenous labour supply and heterogeneous agents to explore the optimal level of education subsidies along with the optimal progressive schedule of the labour income tax and optimal capital income taxes. Subsidies on education ensure efficiency in human capital accumulation, while taxes on skilled labour help to redistribute income towards the less able. We thus provide a rationale for the widely observed presence of education subsidies. The actually observed tax codes and level of education subsidies suggest that a large part of education subsidies can be justified on these grounds.