[{"id":21658,"title":"Topping Up and Optimal Redistribution (joint with Mitchell Watt)","permalink":"https:\/\/bschool.nus.edu.sg\/biz-events\/event\/topping-up-and-optimal-redistribution-joint-with-mitchell-watt\/","category":"Seminars and talks","event_dept":{"value":"analytics-operations","label":"Analytics & Operations"},"event_sec_dept":false,"event_details":{"event_start_date":"6 August 2026","event_end_date":"6 August 2026","event_start_time":"10:00 am","event_end_time":"11:30 am","event_dress_code":"NA"},"event_loc":{"eve_address_selection":"1","eve_location_1":{"eve_org":"NUS Business School","eve_build":"Mochtar Riady Building","eve_room":"BIZ1 0204","eve_add":"15 Kent Ridge Drive","eve_count":"Singapore","eve_copos":"119245","eve_map_url":"https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/Q1kyjwxHNE22"},"eve_location_2":{"eve_org":"Shaw Foundation Alumni House","eve_build":"","eve_room":"Clove and Lemongrass Room Level 2","eve_add":"11 Kent Ridge Drive","eve_count":"Singapore","eve_copos":119244,"eve_map_url":"https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/docgThkDWFxKdb9c7"},"eve_location_3":{"eve_org":"Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library Auditorium","eve_build":"","eve_room":"","eve_add":"1 Hon Sui Sen Drive","eve_count":"Singapore","eve_copos":117588,"eve_map_url":"https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/NJjWK4RMpC92"},"eve_location_4":{"eve_org":"NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House","eve_build":"","eve_room":"Dalvey Room","eve_add":"9 Kent Ridge Drive","eve_count":"Singapore","eve_copos":119241,"eve_map_url":"https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/nXn2Luh96pH2"},"eve_location_5":{"eve_org":"Institute of Data Science","eve_build":"Innovation 4.0","eve_room":"1-3","eve_add":"3 Research Link","eve_count":"Singapore","eve_copos":117602,"eve_map_url":"https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/i1xocvvDh27QUXem7"},"eve_location_6":{"eve_org":"","eve_build":"","eve_room":"","eve_add":"","eve_count":"","eve_copos":"","eve_map_url":""},"eve_location_7":""},"event_introduction":"","event_short_intro":"","event_topic":null,"event_banner":false,"event_external_url":"","event_registration_details":{"event_registration_form":false,"event_registration_message":"","event_registration_deadline":null,"eve_registration_url":"","event_form":"","event_registration_ack":""},"event_speaker":[{"event_speaker_name":"Zi Yang Kang","event_speaker_designation":"Assistant Professor","event_speaker_affiliation":"University of Toronto","event_speaker_picture":false,"event_speaker_url":"","event_speaker_introduction":"

I am an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto<\/a>.\u00a0 I work on mechanism design, market design, and industrial organization.\u00a0 My research applies a theoretical lens to policy design and evaluation.\u00a0\u00a0I am particularly interested in \u201cpartial mechanism design,\u201d where a policymaker can design only part of the market.<\/p>\n"}],"event_agenda":false,"event_photo_gallery":false,"event_presentations":false,"event_custom_heading":[{"event_custom_title":"Abstract","event_custom_details":"

This paper studies how topping up\u2014allowing recipients of in-kind transfers to supplement subsidized consumption in a private market\u2014affects optimal redistribution.\u00a0 Consumers can access a competitive private market, while a social planner offers an alternative nonlinear price schedule.\u00a0 We show that the effect of topping up depends on the correlation between redistributive priority and demand. When the correlation is positive, topping up does not affect the optimal mechanism. When the correlation is negative, topping up weakens screening and reduces redistribution.\u00a0 At the extensive margin, topping up reduces the set of environments in which intervention is optimal.\u00a0 At the intensive margin, topping up weakly reduces both the scope of a free public option and the mass of consumers served, and shifts redistribution away from the consumers with the highest redistributive priority.\u00a0 We characterize the optimal mechanisms and show how topping up changes the comparative statics of optimal redistribution with respect to redistributive priorities.<\/p>\n"}],"event_enquiry_details":{"event_enq_full_name":"","event_enq_department":"","event_enq_email":"","event_enq_telephone":"","event_enq_website":""}}]