Discrete Prices and the Incidence and Efficiency of Excise Taxes
利用UPC级数据分析蒸馏酒市场中消费税与零售价格的关系，发现价格存在名义刚性（多止于99美分且以整美元变动），考虑价格离散后显著影响税收归宿和超额负担估计，为消费税设定提供新视角。
This paper uses UPC-level data to examine the relationship between excise taxes, retail prices, and consumer welfare in the distilled spirits market. We document a nominal rigidity in retail prices that arises because firms largely choose prices that end in 99 cents and change prices in whole-dollar increments. A correctly specified model, like an ordered logit, takes this discreteness into account when predicting the effects of alternative taxes. Explicitly accounting for price points substantially impacts estimates of tax incidence and the excess burden cost of tax revenue. Meaningful nonmonotonicities in these quantities expand the potential considerations in setting excise taxes.