Optimum commodity taxation theory asks how to raise a given amount of tax revenue while minimizing distortions. We reexamine Ramsey's inverse elasticity rule in presence of Hotelling-type non-renewable natural resources. Under standard assumptions borrowed from the...

This paper looks at the Quebec's tax system including taxes and tarification with the perspective of the determination of fiscal policies in the political market. To allow a global reflection on the Quebec's fiscal policy, it begins with the presentation of general principles used to evaluate a...

We provide a continuum of subsidy rules based on a performance indicator that induce a monopoly to choose the socially optimal production level. These subsidy rules result in a reduction of the amount of subsidy paid to the monopolist compared to the standard case where a constant subsidy rate...

The recent automobile liability insurance crisis in Atlantic Canada has prompted the four provincial legislations (Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) to setup a task force to redesign, if necessary, the personal automobile insurance system. After...

We propose an overlapping generations economy where households care about relative consumption, the difference between their consumption and the consumption of their reference group. An individual's consumption is driven by the comparison of his lifetime income and the lifetime income of his...

When a deficit occurs in the funding of collective goods, it is usually covered by raising the amount of taxes or by rationing the supply of the goods. This article compares the efficiency of these institutions. We report the results of a 2x2 experiment based on a game in the first stage of...

This paper offers an explanation of the fact that some foreign firms are favored at the expense of others, and characterizes the distribution of favors in terms of the cost parameters of firms, and a preference parameter in the government's objective function. We present a model where favors...

We analyze duopolistic competition between horizontally differentiated firms selling durable goods or services subject to congestion. At each point of time, new customers buy one unit of the commodity from one of the firms, by comparing present prices and future congestion rates. We study the...

This paper proposes three analyses of the tradeoff mechanism between ecotax and carbon credit. Our wish is to compare the ecotax level with the carbon credit price, subject to the minimization of the cost inherent to emissions. We redefine the calculus equations of the firm profit, in which we...

In this article, we stress the effect of a Negative Income Tax (NIT) scheme on the firms' behaviour as regards their technological choices. Within the framework of a matching model with differentiation of the agents, we show that a NIT reduces inequalities and rises employment making agents less...