Accidental Bequests: A Curse for the Rich and a Boon for the Poor*
研究了当意外遗产揭示个人生产力与寿命等不可观测特征时，社会应如何设计遗产税：未继承者适用次优税制，继承者适用最优税制，且遗产税对高能力者是负担，对低能力者可能是福利。
Abstract When accidental bequests signal otherwise unobservable individual characteristics, such as productivity and longevity, the population should be partitioned into two groups: those who do not receive an inheritance and those who do. The first tagged group receives a Mirrlees second‐best tax schedule; the second group, when its type is fully revealed, faces a first‐best tax schedule. Receiving an inheritance makes high‐ability types worse off and low‐ability types better off. High‐ability individuals face a bequest tax of more than 100 percent, while low‐ability types face a bequest tax that can be smaller, as well as larger, than 100 percent, and it might even be negative.