Assist. Prof. William C. Dodds

Optimal Taxation and Screening Problems

William Dodds’ research sits at the intersection of public economics and microeconomic theory, with a particular focus on bridging the divide between theoretical and empirical work. His recent work addresses optimal taxation and screening problems in settings with multidimensional heterogeneity, bunching, and jumping; the recovery of inverse welfare weights in similarly complex environments; and optimal policy reform when reforms generate fiscal spillovers across government agencies or over time.

During his visit to CES, Mr. Dodds will pursue new research, joint with Katy Bergstrom, Francesco Capozza, Juan Rios, and Krishna Srinivasa, on societal preferences for redistribution across beneficiary characteristics such as health status, family composition, age, and income. He will also continue work on a theoretical paper (joint with Katy Bergstrom) examining the construction of consistent generalized social marginal welfare weights, and hopes to develop new collaborative research on the taxation of artificial intelligence.

William Dodds is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Tulane University and received his PhD from Stanford University in 2019. He also holds an MA in Economics from Stanford University as well as a BA in Mathematics and Economics from Claremont McKenna College.