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Purpose - Empirical studies have found an 'inverted U-curve' relationship between emigration and per capita income. In this paper, a theoretical underpinning for this phenomenon is presented based on credit restrictions. The implications for tax policy are also analyzed.Design/methodology/approach - Using an intertemporal general equilibrium model, the authors characterize how the presence of an 'inverted U-curve' relationship between emigration and per capita income will influence the optimal tax and expenditure policy in a country where agents have the option to move abroad.Findings - Among the results it is shown that if age dependent taxes are available, the presence of an 'inverted U-curve' provides an incentive to tax young labor harder, but old labor less hard, than otherwise.

In this paper, we study whether migration affects taxes on labor and capital income. The analysis is based on panel data for 14 European countries. The results indicate that migration does affect subsequent tax rates, and taxes on labor income increase with increased migration, especially in countries with large public sectors. However, this effect is reduced for countries with large foreign trade and/or large shares of elderly in the population.

This paper analyses the potential welfare gains of introducing a technology transfer from Annex I to non-Annex I in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Our analysis is based on a numerical general equilibrium model for a world-economy comprising two regions; North (Annex I) and South (non-Annex I). In a cooperative equilibrium, a technology transfer from the North to the South is clearly desirable from the perspective of a ‘global social planner’, since the welfare gain for the South outweighs the welfare loss for the North. However, if the regions do not cooperate, then the incentives to introduce the technology transfer appear to be relatively weak from the perspective of the North; at least if we allow for Southern abatement in the pre-transfer Nash equilibrium. Finally, by adding the emission reductions associated with the Kyoto agreement, our results show that the technology transfer leads to higher welfare in both regions.