Simon Margolin
Welcome! I am sixth-year Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at Princeton University.Â
I study Macroeconomics, Public Finance and Labor.
I am on the 2024-25 academic job market. You can find my CV here.
Working papers
Micro vs. Macro Corporate Tax Incidence (Paper)
Abstract: This paper studies the unequal incidence of corporate taxes across firms and its implications for macroeconomic outcomes. I develop a dynamic general equilibrium Harberger model with heterogeneous workers and firms. The analysis shows that corporate tax cuts lead to stronger wage increases at capital-intensive firms, and that this heterogeneous effect, combined with general equilibrium dynamics, creates a discrepancy between micro and macro estimates of their impact on workers' welfare. I validate the core firm-level mechanisms using French administrative employer-employee data and multiple tax reforms. I use the reduced-form estimates to discipline the model, and evaluate the short vs. long run, and micro vs. macro consequences of corporate tax reforms. When firm heterogeneity and general equilibrium dynamics are taken into account, workers bear a relatively small share of the aggregate corporate tax burden.
Unemployment Insurance and the Quality of Job Seekers (Paper)
Abstract: This paper investigates the optimal design of unemployment insurance (UI) and explores how UI affects the quality of the job-seeker pool. Using a directed search model with endogenous search effort and asymmetric information between workers and recruiters, I show that higher levels of UI can exacerbate adverse selection by incentivizing low-productivity workers to apply for high-wage jobs and crowd out productive applicants. However, the model reveals a mitigating effect: increased UI reduces the number of applications from low-productivity workers, alleviating this adverse selection inefficiency. The model is calibrated using data from the Survey of Consumer Expectations and the Current Population Survey to quantify these two forces and the welfare effects of unemployment insurance, showing that the current level of benefits implemented in the US is close to, but slightly below, the optimal one.
Work in progress
Firm-specific Human Capital and Labor Market Power, with John Grigsby and Gianluca Violante
Corporate Bankruptcy as Worker Insurance, with Maxime Gravoueille and Thomas Zuber