World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Award Badge
Law
USA
2023

D-Index & Metrics

Law

D-Index
52
Citations
11487
World Ranking
45
National Ranking
39

Economics and Finance

D-Index
52
Citations
11244
World Ranking
1261
National Ranking
763

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2023 - Research.com Law in United States Leader Award
  • 2003 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Overview

Louis Kaplow is an academic affiliated with Harvard University in the United States. Their research primarily spans the fields of Economics, Econometrics and Finance, as well as Business, Management and Accounting. A significant portion of their work falls within subfields such as Economics and Econometrics, Accounting, Gender Studies, General Economics, Econometrics and Finance, and Strategy and Management.

The main topics covered in Kaplow's research include:

  • Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth
  • Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics
  • Merger and Competition Analysis
  • Global Trade and Economics
  • Taxation and Compliance Studies
  • Corporate Taxation and Avoidance
  • Politics, Economics, and Education Policy

Kaplow has published extensively, with notable recent papers including:

  • Optimal Income Taxation (2024), published in Journal of Economic Literature
  • Market Power and Income Taxation (2021), published in American Economic Journal Economic Policy
  • A Note on Horizontal Equity (2022), published in Florida Tax Review
  • A Unified Perspective on Efficiency, Redistribution, and Public Policy (2020), published in SSRN Electronic Journal
  • Horizontal Merger Analysis (2021), published in International Journal of Industrial Organization

Frequently, Kaplow publishes in venues such as the SSRN Electronic Journal, Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Journal Economic Policy, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, and Florida Tax Review. Their work often intersects with prominent coauthors, including Scott Duke Kominers, with whom they have collaborated on three publications.

Kaplow's contributions to their field have been recognized by their election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003.

Best Publications

  • Rules versus Standards: An Economic Analysis

    Louis Kaplow

  • Fairness versus Welfare

    Louis Kaplow;Steven Shavell

  • Optimal Law Enforcement with Self-Reporting of Behavior

    Louis Kaplow;Steven Shavell

  • WHY THE LEGAL SYSTEM IS LESS EFFICIENT THAN THE INCOME TAX IN REDISTRIBUTING INCOME

    Louis Kaplow;Steven M. Shavell

  • Property Rules Versus Liability Rules: An Economic Analysis

    Louis Kaplow;Steven Shavell

  • Any Non‐welfarist Method of Policy Assessment Violates the Pareto Principle: Reply

    Louis Kaplow;Steven Shavell

  • The Theory of Taxation and Public Economics

    Louis Kaplow;Louis Kaplow

  • THE OPTIMAL SUPPLY OF PUBLIC GOODS AND THE DISTORTIONARY COST OF TAXATION

    Louis Kaplow

  • Fairness versus Welfare

    Unknown

  • Optimal Sanctions When Individuals are Imperfectly Informed About the Probability of Apprehension

    Lucian Bebchuk;Louis Kaplow

  • The Value of Accuracy in Adjudication: An Economic Analysis

    Louis Kaplow

  • Accuracy in the Determination of Liability

    Louis Kaplow;Steven M. Shavell

  • Optimal Sanctions When Individuals Are Imperfectly Informed about the Probability of Apprehension

    Lucian Arye Bebchuk;Louis Kaplow

  • An Economic Analysis of Legal Transitions

    Louis Kaplow

  • Accuracy in the Assessment of Damages

    Louis Kaplow;Steven M. Shavell

  • HORIZONTAL EQUITY: MEASURES IN SEARCH OF A PRINCIPLE

    Louis Kaplow

  • On the undesirability of commodity taxation even when income taxation is not optimal

    Louis Kaplow;Louis Kaplow

  • Incentives and Government Relief for Risk

    Louis Kaplow

  • Optimal Taxation with Costly Enforcement and Evasion

    Louis Kaplow

  • On the Superiority of Corrective Taxes to Quantity Regulation

    Louis Kaplow;Steven Shavell

  • A Model of the Optimal Complexity of Legal Rules

    Louis Kaplow

  • The Value of a Statistical Life and the Coefficient of Relative Risk Aversion

    Louis Kaplow

  • Moral Rules, the Moral Sentiments, and Behavior: Toward a Theory of an Optimal Moral System

    Louis Kaplow;Steven Shavell

  • The Patent-Antitrust Intersection: A Reappraisal

    Louis Kaplow

  • On the (Ir)Relevance of Distribution and Labor Supply Distortion to Government Policy

    Louis Kaplow

  • Optimal sanctions and differences in individuals' likelihood of avoiding detection

    Lucian Arye Bebchuk;Louis Kaplow

  • A note on the optimal use of nonmonetary sanctions

    Louis Kaplow

  • Optimal Deterrence, Uninformed Individuals, and Acquiring Information about Whether Acts Are Subject to Sanctions

    Louis Kaplow

  • Extension of Monopoly Power through Leverage

    Louis Kaplow

  • The Theory of Taxation and Public Economics

    Unknown

  • OPTIMAL CONTROL OF EXTERNALITIES IN THE PRESENCE OF INCOME TAXATION*: optimal control of externalities

    Louis Kaplow;Louis Kaplow

  • Accuracy in the Assessment of Damages

    Louis Kaplow;Louis Kaplow;Steven Shavell;Steven Shavell

Frequent Co-Authors

Steven Shavell
Steven Shavell Harvard University
Lucian Arye Bebchuk
Lucian Arye Bebchuk Harvard University
David A. Weisbach
David A. Weisbach University of Chicago
Carl Shapiro
Carl Shapiro University of California, Berkeley
David Kirk
David Kirk University of Strathclyde
W. Kip Viscusi
W. Kip Viscusi Vanderbilt University
Reinier Kraakman
Reinier Kraakman Harvard University
Richard J. Gilbert
Richard J. Gilbert University of California, Berkeley

If you think any of the details on this page are incorrect, let us know.

Report an issue

We appreciate your kind effort to assist us to improve this page, it would be helpful providing us with as much detail as possible in the text box below:

Related Online Degrees & Career Pathways

Exploring a career in law opens doors to many related fields that support legal work or intersect with business operations. For those seeking a broad business perspective to complement their legal knowledge, earning an mba in 6 months can be an efficient way to build valuable management skills quickly.

Those interested in legal processes but not pursuing a full JD may consider fast track paralegal programs. These online degrees provide specialized training to work alongside attorneys, often in less time and with greater flexibility.

A solid understanding of finance is crucial in both legal and business settings. Obtaining a book keeping certificate online can greatly enhance your marketability in law offices, corporations, and government agencies where financial compliance matters.

Additionally, professionals looking to start or advance a career in legal, corporate, or government environments can benefit from office administration degrees. These programs teach organizational and communication skills essential for managing busy modern workplaces.

Best Scientists Citing Louis Kaplow

Trending Scientists

Recently Published Articles