Jacob Goldin

Whose Child Is This? Improving Child-Claiming Rules in Safety-Net Programs

Benefit programs for families rely on rules to determine which individuals can claim which children. These rules shape who qualifies for a program and who does not. This Article critically assesses the design of child-claiming rules, using as case studies the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Which Way To Nudge? Uncovering Preferences in the Behavioral Age

Sales Tax Not Included: Designing Commodity Taxes for Inattentive Consumers

122 Yale L.J. 258 (2012). A spate of new research suggests that the salience of a tax dramatically shapes taxpayer behavior: the more salient a tax—i.e., the more prominent a good’s after-tax price—the more taxpayers respond. Policymakers make decisions about tax salience, whether they intend to or not, every time they impose a new tax, yet the normative implications of...