Morten Håvarstein

• Berg, Kristoffer; Håvarstein, Morten & Piacquadio, Paolo Giovanni (2026). Equity and efficiency when needs differ. Journal of Public Economics. ISSN 0047-2727. 260. doi: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2026.105704. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  There is no consensus on how to measure social welfare and inequality when households have different needs. As we show, a dilemma emerges between holding households responsible for their needs or compensating them. This dilemma is of first-order importance for social welfare, but generally plays a minor role in the measurement of inequality. To address this impasse, we introduce partial compensation. Our axiomatic characterizations reveal novel families of welfare criteria and, with the extension to multidimensional commodity spaces, provide ready-to-use criteria for the analysis of redistributive policies.

• Berg, Kristoffer; Håvarstein, Morten & Piacquadio, Paolo Giovanni (2024). Equity and Efficiency when Needs differ. CESifo Working Papers. ISSN 1617-9595. Full text in Research Archive

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• Markussen, Simen; Bensnes, Simon Søbstad; Hernæs, Øystein Marianssønn; Håvarstein, Morten; Mogstad, Magne & Raaum, Oddbjørn [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2025). Hva koster egentlig en skattelette til personer med lav inntekt? doi: https:/www.dn.no/innlegg/okonomi/eksperiment/skatt/hva-koster-egentlig-en-skattelette-til-personer-med-lav-inntekt/2-1-1835500. Full text in Research Archive
• Bensnes, Simon Søbstad; Hernæs, Øystein Marianssønn; Markussen, Simen; Raaum, Oddbjørn; Håvarstein, Morten & Mogstad, Magne [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2025). Vi trenger 100.000 som får arbeidsfradrag i forsøket. doi: https:/www.dn.no/innlegg/skatt/sysselsetting/arbeid/vi-trenger-100000-som-far-arbeidsfradrag-i-forsoket/2-1-1831957. Full text in Research Archive
• Bensnes, Simon Søbstad; Hernæs, Øystein Marianssønn; Håvarstein, Morten; Markussen, Simen; Mogstad, Magne & Schreiner, Ragnhild Camilla [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2025). Joggesko gir lite kunnskap om arbeidsfradrag. doi: https:/www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/i/B0a2JG/joggesko-gir-lite-kunnskap-om-arbeidsfradrag. Full text in Research Archive
• Bensnes, Simon Søbstad; Hernæs, Øystein Marianssønn; Raaum, Oddbjørn; Markussen, Simen; Mogstad, Magne & Torsvik, Gaute [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2025). Ja til en mer kunnskapsbasert skattepolitikk. Full text in Research Archive
• Bensnes, Simon Søbstad; Raaum, Oddbjørn; Hernæs, Øystein Marianssønn; Markussen, Simen; Mogstad, Magne & Håvarstein, Morten [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2025). Skattejoker Nord? Aftenposten vil kanskje innse at den møter seg selv i døren. Full text in Research Archive
• Berg, Kristoffer; Håvarstein, Morten & Stubhaug, Magnus Eliasson (2023). Meritocratic Labor Income Taxation. Full text in Research Archive
• Berg, Kristoffer; Håvarstein, Morten & Stubhaug, Magnus Eliasson (2023). Meritocratic Labor Income Taxation. Full text in Research Archive
• Graber, Michael; Håvarstein, Morten; Mogstad, Magne; Torsvik, Gaute & Vestad, Ola L. (2026). Substitution and Income Effects of Labor Income Taxation. National Bureau of Economic Research. doi: 10.3386/w34987. Full text in Research Archive
• Graber, Michael; Håvarstein, Morten; Mogstad, Magne; Torsvik, Gaute & Vestad, Ola L. (2026). Substitution and Income Effects of Labor Income Taxation. National Bureau of Economic Research. doi: 10.3386/w34987. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The elasticity of taxable income (ETI) parameter is a key quantity in empirical analysis of tax policy and labor supply. We examine when a commonly applied class of ETI estimands can be used to learn about individuals’ ETI parameters and their (un)compensated elasticities of labor supply. We begin by providing necessary and sufficient conditions for these estimands to be given a causal interpretation as a positively weighted average of heterogeneous ETI parameters. We then apply these results to empirically analyze a reform of the Norwegian tax system that reduced the marginal tax rates on middle and high incomes. The estimated ETI parameters increase steadily with income, meaning high-income individuals are more responsive to tax changes than middle-income individuals. Next, we show how (un)compensated elasticities of labor supply can be bounded directly from the ETI estimands, or point identified by combining these estimands with estimates of earnings responses to lottery winnings. The results suggest an (un)compensated elasticity of 0.1 (0.0) for middle-income individuals. The (un)compensated elasticity estimates increase steadily with income to around 0.45 (0.3) for high-income individuals. These findings imply a substantial excess burden of taxation, and that reducing top-income tax rates would increase tax revenue. Our findings are also informative about how the intertemporal elasticity of substitution and the Frisch elasticity vary across the income distribution.

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