Jose Alvarado

Jose Alvarado

Lecturer (Assistant Professor)

University of Queensland

Welcome

I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the School of Economics at the University of Queensland. I am a macroeconomist interested in public finance, taxation, and wealth inequality. My research combines empirical analysis and structural quantitative general equilibrium models to study how tax policies shape wealth distribution and economic outcomes.

My research sits at the intersection of public finance and macroeconomics. I study how the tax system affects wealth distribution and aggregate economic outcomes, with a particular emphasis on the heterogeneity of agents and how they respond differently to tax policies depending on their position in the wealth distribution.

Working Papers

Tax Avoidance and Wealth Inequality (Job Market Paper)
The hypothesis that wealth inequality is driven by the higher returns earned by the rich—thereby offsetting the progressivity of the tax system—overlooks a key dimension: tax avoidance. Tax avoidance not only undermines the progressivity of the tax system but is also one of the reasons why the wealthy earn higher returns.
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Tax Avoidance and Wealth Inequality (Job Market Paper)
The Long Lasting Effects of Warfare on Tax Progressivity: Evidence from World War II

With Tomas Wilner

We study the long-term effect of warfare on tax progressivity. Using panel data on top marginal income tax rates across countries, we conduct an event study analysis in which entering the war is the event of interest. The main results show that countries participating in World War II had top income tax rates around 20% higher relative to the year before the war, compared to non-participants.

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The Long Lasting Effects of Warfare on Tax Progressivity: Evidence from World War II

Work in Progress

The Dynamics of The Distributional Impact of Fiscal Policy: a Macro-political Economy Approach
Why does the redistributing power of fiscal policy differ from country to country? I provide evidence that, although pre-tax and transfer income inequality tends to be similar across nations, post-fiscal intervention inequality varies significantly. I develop a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents, in which the degree of redistribution is determined endogenously. The findings reveal that the extent of redistribution is influenced by: (i) the size of economic shocks affecting the economy and (ii) the institutional rules under which fiscal policy is chosen. My model explains cross-country differences in fiscal policy’s distributional power.
Last updated on Nov 4, 2024

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