Homonoff

For her work on behavioral economics and public finance, Cornell economist Tatiana Homonoff received the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Government Finance and Taxation award from the National Tax Association at its annual conference Nov. 21-23.

Homonoff, assistant professor of policy analysis and management, was recognized for her scholarship done on her dissertation at Princeton University. At Cornell, she continues this research as part of the Institute on Health Economics, Health Behaviors and Disparities in the College of Human Ecology.

One focus of hers is the emerging field of tax salience – that is, which taxes consumers pay attention to. For instance, shoppers usually respond to excise taxes – those posted along with the price of a good – but they often ignore sales taxes added at the register. Understanding such behaviors can help lawmakers design more effective taxes to achieve such policy goals such as wealth redistribution, health promotion or revenue generation, Homonoff said.

For one study, Homonoff compared taxes and rewards intended to discourage consumers from using environmentally harmful plastic bags. She studied two policies implemented in metropolitan Washington, D.C.: one that added a five-cent tax on disposable bags and one that gave shoppers a five-cent reward for bringing their own reusable bags. The tax worked, lowering the number of customers using disposable bags substantially, but the five-cent bonus had virtually no effect.

“This is consistent with the behavioral economics concept of loss aversion – that people experience losses more strongly than they do gains of the same amount,” Homonoff said.

Homonoff plans to follow up the study to test whether shifting to reusable shopping bags has additional spillover effects that lead to other green behaviors. For instance, Homonoff said, doing so may spur individuals to recycle more, conserve energy or use environmentally friendly products.

The National Tax Association competition was open to all graduate students at accredited colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Homonoff joins former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Harvard University economist Raj Chetty among the past recipients of the award.

“It’s an honor to receive an award that has been given to so many of the top names in the field,” Homonoff said.

Ted Boscia is director of communications and media for the College of Human Ecology.