Taxes and Torts in the Redistribution of Income

Abstract

This paper, presented as the Coase Lecture at the University of Chicago Law School, summarizes in a non-technical fashion the recent literature on the use of legal rules to redistribute income. The argument, as made in prior literature, is that the tax system is likely to be superior to legal rules for redistribution of income because it focuses directly on the relevant margins.

Keywords: Coase lecture, tax law