Felix Bierbrauer

Welcome to my webpage! I am a professor of economics at the University of Cologne and a member of ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy, a Cluster of Excellence under Germany’s Excellence Strategy. Further affiliations are with the Center for Economic Policy Reserach (CEPR), and the CESifo Network. I am also a member of the board of academic advisors of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, and currently its chairman.

Email: bierbrauer@wiso.uni-koeln.de

Office: University of Cologne, Department of Economics, SSC, Universitätsstraße 22, 50937 Cologne, Germany

Curriculum Vitae, February 2025

Working Papers:

"The political economy of joint taxation", with Pierre Boyer, Andreas Peichl and Daniel Weishaar, February 2025
"Is a uniform price on Carbon desirable?", February 2025
"Pareto-improvements, welfare trade-offs and the taxation of couples", with Pierre Boyer, Andreas Peichl and Daniel Weishaar, December 2024
"Competitive fair redistricting", with Mattias Polborn, Februar 2024

Publications:

"Pareto-improving tax reforms and the Earned Income Tax Credit," with Pierre Boyer and Emanuel Hansen, Econometrica, vol. 91, pp. 1077-1103, 2023.
"Taxes and Turnout: When the decisive voter stays at home", 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.
"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, J.R. Lupp, series editor. 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 Désirée Rückert, Journal of Public Economics, vol. 149, pp. 59-80, 2017.
"Mechanism Design and Intentions", with Nick Netzer, Journal of Economic Theory, vol. 163, pp. 557-603, 2016.
"Robustly Coalition-Proof Incentive Mechanisms for Public Good Provision are Voting Mechanisms and Vice Versa", with Martin Hellwig, Review of Economic Studies, vol. 83, pp. 1440-1464, 2016.
"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:

"ECONtribute: Markets Public Policy: Agenda und ausgewählte Forschungsschwerpunkte", mit Christian Bayer, Axel Ockenfels und Matthias Sutter, Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, 2025. Forthcoming.
"Nachhaltigkeitsziele und das Lieferkettengesetz", Wirtschaftsdienst, vol. 102, no. 5, pp. 344-346, 2022.
"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, Ausgabe 22(3), S. 191-202, 2021.
"Effizienz oder Gerechtigkeit: Ungleiche Einkommen, ungleiche Vermögen und optimale Steuern", Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Ausgabe 17(1), S. 2-24, 2016.

Contributions to Policy Blogs:

"Fantastic tax cuts and where to find them," with Pierre Boyer and Emanuel Hansen, VoxEUcolumn, July 2023
"The road to individual taxation", with Pierre Boyer, Andreas Peichl and Daniel Weishaar, VoxEU column, June 2023
"Tax reforms and politcal feasibility", with Pierre C. Boyer*, Andrew Lonsdale and Andreas Peichl, IPP Policy Brief n°74, September 2021
"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.

Unpublished Manuscripts:

The taxation of couples, with Pierre Boyer, Andreas Peichl and Daniel Weishaar, July 2023 (Longer Discussion Paper Version: CEPR, CESifo,ECONtribute)
"Public-Good Provision in Large Economies 1: Linear Payment and Provision Cost Functions", with Martin Hellwig, March 2016
"Boring Banks and Taxes", with Rafael Aigner, April 2015
"On the legitimacy of coercion for the financing of public goods", December 2011, Supplementary Material (download)
"Political Blockades and Election Timing", with Lydia Mechtenberg, September 2010

Miscellaneous:

An interview of John Weymark, by Felix Bierbrauer (University of Cologne) and Claude d’Aspremont (Université Catholique de Louvain) 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

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