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Jason DeBacker

Professor of Economics, University of South Carolina-Columbia
Chapter Leader: South Carolina SSN
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About Jason

DeBacker's research focuses on tax policy and administration. More specifically, DeBacker's work considers the effects of taxation on investment and employment and how enforcement affects tax compliance. DeBacker is founder and president of PSL Foundation, a non-profit advancing transparency and reproducibility in public policy analysis through education, research, and open source software development. He's collaborated with state and national governments, think tanks, and large NGOs on issues in public finance and to support economic modeling efforts.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | Member Spotlight | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Want Real Government Efficiency? Try a Scalpel, Not a Chainsaw.

Commentary,

In the News

Research discussed by Natasha Sarin, in "The Case for a Robust Attack on the Tax Gap," U.S. Department of the Treasury, September 7, 2021.
Research discussed by Bryce Covert, in "Will Red-State Protests Spark Electoral Change?," The Nation, July 5, 2018.
Research discussed by Richard Rubin & Ruth Simon, in "For Pass-Through Businesses, Let the (Tax) Games Begin," The Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2017.
Quoted by Todd C. Frankel in "What Happened When North Carolina Cut Taxes Like the GOP Plans to for the Country," The Washington Post, December 3, 2017.
Research discussed by Jordan Weissmann, in "Republicans are Getting Ready to Repeat Kansas’ Tax Cut Disaster," Slate, November 29, 2017.

Publications

"Seeking Professional Help: How Paid Preparers Decrease Tax Compliance" (with Bradley T. Heim, Anh Tran, and and Alexander Yuskavage). National Tax Journal 77, no. 2 (2024).

Examines how tax preparers affect the compliance decisions of their clients. Findings suggest that tax preparers significantly increase tax non-compliance relative to what is found among self-prepared returns filed by otherwise similar taxpayers.

"Playing Games With GPT: What Can We Learn about a Large Language Model from Canonical Strategic Games?" (with Philip Brookins). Economics Bulletin 44, no. 1 (2023): 25-37.

Explores the fairness and cooperation preferences embedded in AI by having GPT-3.5 play two classic games: the dictator game and the prisoner's dilemma. Finds that the large language model (LLM) tends to favor fairness and exhibits higher cooperation rates than humans.

"The Cost of Capital in Times of High Inflation" Tax Notes 176, no. 10 (2022): 1159-1164.

Examines the impact of inflation on the cost of capital for U.S. corporations. Simulations show that high rates of inflation have relatively small impact on the cost of capital for U.S. corporations under current law policy. However, moving to a cash flow tax would eliminate the distortions of inflation on investment altogether.

"A Culture of Despair? Inequality and Expectations of Educational Success" (with P. Wesley Routon). Contemporary Economic Policy 39, no. 3 (2021): 573-588.

Finds that youth living in areas of high inequality have lower expectations of educational success than youth with similar socio-economic characteristics residing in areas with less inequality.