http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7812 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/43799 Variation in marginal tax rates around retirement and the return to saving in tax-favored accounts Bishop, Tonja Bowen Economists have generally assumed that to the extent possible, retirement savings should be done in a tax-deferred account. However, the advent of Roth-style tax-favored accounts and concerns about the tax implications of increasing retirement income through tax-deferred distributions indicate that this question merits a reevaluation. I use data on married couples in the HRS and NBER's TAXSIM model to measure the probability of a household facing a higher tax rate at ages 62, 65, and 69 than the household faced at age 57. When the marginal tax rate is higher, the household could decrease their lifetime tax by choosing a Roth-style account over a tax-deferred account. I also measure the probability of facing a marginal tax rate that is sufficiently high that the household minimizes tax payments by using a taxable account rather than a tax-deferred account, in the absence of a Roth option. I find that for distributions beginning at age 69, between 10 and 35% of households with taxable income at age 57 should prefer a Roth account to a tax-deferred account, but very few households prefer a taxable account. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-31). Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:58:59 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42520 Economic stabilization policies in Argentina during Menem's presidency (1989-1991) Contreras, Ernesto Jorge Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 1991. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-43). Mon, 29 Oct 1990 22:58:59 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42395 Bombs and ballots : estimating the effect of the Madrid bombings on the March 2004 general elections in Spain Díez-Amigo, Sandro Whether or not the Madrid March 11th 2004 terrorist attacks affected the outcome of the Spanish general elections three days later has been the source of great controversy in the last years. This paper analyzes Spanish electoral data for the 2000 and 2004 Congressional elections, comparing the marginal effects of the proportion of voters who voted before the elections (and therefore, before the bombings in 2004) on the voting pattern in both years. A linear approach finds mild evidence that bombs undermined support for the incumbent conservative party and increased the share of the vote for the opposition socialists, similar to previous findings by Montalvo (2006) using a natural experiment design. A non-linear approach using binomial and multinomial logit models is not successful and yields no conclusive indications on how the attacks affected the outcome of the elections. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 22). Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:58:59 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39857 Economies of scale in the U.S. life insurance industry : an econometric analysis Daula, Thomas Vincent Thesis. 1976. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics. Microfiche copy available in Archives and Dewey. Bibliography: leaves 76-79. Wed, 29 Oct 1975 22:58:59 GMT