Growth and Redistribution: The Hedging Perspective

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review: Insights
Year: 2025
Volume: 7
Issue: 2
Pages: 250-67

Authors (2)

Larry Samuelson (not in RePEc) Jakub Steiner (Universität Zürich)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We investigate the impact of wealth redistribution on economic growth, building on Kelly's (1956) optimal investment portfolio theory. A growth-optimal policy redistributes wealth from "lucky" overperforming individuals to underperforming ones, minimizing the systematic component of this redistribution in a myopic fashion. That is, the optimal policy minimizes the discrepancy between endowments and outcomes, counterfactually taking outcomes as independent of endowments. The myopia in this result follows from a decoupling argument that allows us to model the planner as independently choosing a growth-maximizing policy and a pattern of wealth circulation.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aerins:v:7:y:2025:i:2:p:250-67
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29