Taxing Top Wealth: Migration Responses and their Aggregate Economic Implications

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Research question and motivation: Proposals to tax top wealth (e.g., Saez and Zucman, 2019) face a recurring objection in public debate: that the wealthy will emigrate en masse and, because many are entrepreneurs, their departure will inflict large negative spillovers (“trickle-down”) on the broader economy, making wealth taxes self-defeating. Credible evidence on international migration responses to wealth taxes has been scarce due to data limitations and a lack of clean identifying variation. This paper provides such evidence and quantifies the aggregate economic implications.

Katrine Jakobsen | Macro Paper Warehouse

Taxing Top Wealth: Migration Responses and their Aggregate Economic Implications