Prof. Dr Felix Bierbrauer

Research focuses

Optimal Taxation, Public Goods, Political Economy, Economic Theory

Curriculum vitae

Academic Positions:

• Since 2011 Professor, Chair for Public Economics and Center for Macroeconomic Research, University of Cologne, Germany
• 2010 - 2011 Visiting Professor, University of Mannheim, Germany
• 2006 - 2011 Senior Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany
• 2006 - 2007 Visiting Scholar, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA
• 2004 - 2006 Research assistant, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, Germany
• 2002 - 2004 Research and teaching assistant for Professor Martin Hellwig, University of Mannheim, Germany

Education:

• 2006 Dissertation, University of Mannheim. Title: Essays on Public Goods Provision and Income Taxation“, 
• 2002 - 2006 Doctoral student, Center for Doctoral Studies in Economics, University of Mannheim
• 2002 Diploma in Economics, University of Mannheim
• 1997 - 2002 Studies in economics at the universities of Saarbrücken, Mannheim, and Tilburg (Netherlands)

Further Professional Activities:

• 2018 – 2020 Spokesperson, Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute: Markets and Public Policy
• Since 12/2019 Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) Fellow
• Since 2018 Board of Academic Advisors, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
• 2017 - 2020 Member of Executive Board, Reinhard Selten Institute
• Since  2011 Research Affiliate, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods

Selected publications

• Taxes and Turnout, with Aleh Tsyvinski and Nicolas Werquin, American Economic Review, vol. 112, pp. 689-719, 2022.
• Politically Feasible Reforms of Nonlinear Tax Systems, with Pierre Boyer and Andreas Peichl, American Economic Review, vol. 111, pp. 153-91, 2021. ˆ
• Harry Potter and the welfare of the willfully blinded, In: Deliberate Ignorance: Choosing not to know, edited by R. Hertwig and C. Engel. Strüngmann Forum Reports, vol 29. Cambridge, MA: MIT press, 2021.
• All or nothing: State capacity and optimal public goods provision, with Justus Winkelmann, Journal of Economic Theory, vol. 185, pp. 1049-55, 2020.
• Robust Mechanism Design and Social Preferences, with Axel Ockenfels, Andreas Pollak and Desiree Rueckert, Journal of Public Economics, vol. 149, pp. 59-80, 2017. ˆ
• Mechanism Design and Intentions, with Nick Netzer, forthcoming, Journal of Economic Theory.
• Robustly Coalition-Proof Incentive Mechanisms for Public Good Provision are Voting Mechanisms and Vice Versa, with Martin Hellwig, forthcoming, Review of Economic Studies.
• Efficiency, Welfare and Political Competition, with Pierre Boyer, Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 131, pp. 461-518,2016.
• Tax incidence for fragile financial markets, Journal of Public Economics, vol. 120, pp. 107-125, 2014.
• The Pareto-frontier in a simple Mirrleesian model of income taxation, with Pierre Boyer, Annals of Economics and Statistics, vol. 113/114, pp. 185-206, 2014.
• Optimal tax and expenditure policy with aggregate uncertainty, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, vol. 6, pp. 205-257, 2014.
• Strategic Nonlinear Income Tax Competition with Perfect Labor Mobility, with Craig Brett and John A. Weymark, Games and Economic Behavior, vol. 82, pp. 292-311, 2013.
• Political competition and Mirrleesian income taxation: A first pass, with Pierre Boyer, Journal of Public Economics, vol. 103, pp 1-14 (lead article), 2013.
• Distortionary Taxation and the Free-Rider Problem, International Tax and Public Finance, vol. 19, pp. 732-752, 2012.
• On the optimality of optimal income taxation, Journal of Economic Theory, vol. 146, pp. 2105-2116, 2011.
• Incomplete contracts and excludable public goods, Journal of Public Economics, vol. 95, pp. 553-569, 2011.
• Optimal democratic mechanisms for taxation and public-good provision, with Marco Sahm, Journal of Public Economics, vol. 94, pp. 453-466, 2010.
• A Note on Optimal Income Taxation, Public Goods Provision and Robust Mechanism Design, Journal of Public Economics, vol. 93, pp. 667-670, 2009.
• Optimal Income Taxation and Public Good Provision with Endogenous Interest Groups, Journal of Public Economic Theory, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 311-342, 2009.

Publications in German

• Mehrheitsfähige und wohlfahrtssteigernde Reformen des deutschen Steuer- und Transfersystems: Von Entzugsraten, Mittelstands- und Wohlstandsbäuchen, mit Andreas Peichl, Dominik Sachs und Daniel Weisshaar, Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 191-202, 2021.
• Effizienz oder Gerechtigkeit:Ungleiche Einkommen, ungleiche Vermögen und optimale Steuern, Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Ausgabe 17(1), pp. 2-24, 2016.

Working Papers

• Pareto-improving tax reforms and the Earned Income Tax Credit, with Pierre Boyer and Emanuel Hansen, August 2021 (Revise and Resubmit, Econometrica)
• Competitive Gerrymandering and the Popular Vote, with Mattias Polborn, October 2021

Selected media publications

Contributions to Policy Blogs

• Tax reforms and politcal feasibility, with Pierre C. Boyer, Andrew Lonsdale and Andreas Peichl, IPP Policy Brief n°74, September 2021 ˆ
• Towards politically feasible and welfare-improving tax reforms, with Pierre Boyer and Andreas Peichl, VoxEU column, October 2020
• Steuervermeidung vermeiden. Sollen wir das wollen? Ifo Schnelldienst, Ausgabe 11/2013.
• Die Wirkung einer Finanztransaktionssteuer auf ein instabiles Finanzsystem, Ökonomenstimme, September 2012.

Miscellaneous

• An interview of John Weymark, with Claude d’Aspremont in Marc Fleurbaey and Maurice Salles, Eds., Conversations on Social Choice and Welfare Theory – Vol. 1, 2021
• Essays on Public Goods Provision and Income Taxation, Dissertation, University of Mannheim, 2006