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Why do low-income individuals often oppose redistribution? We hypothesize that an aversion to being in "last place …" undercuts support for redistribution, with low-income individuals punishing those slightly below themselves to keep someone …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10009223329
The literature on voluntary provision of public goods includes recent theoretical work on the formation of voluntary coalitions to provide public goods. Theory is ambiguous on the equilibrium coalition size and contribution rates. We examine the emergence of coalitions, their size, and how...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008622350
The view that intergenerational distributive justice and efficiency should be treated separately is familiar, yet controversial. This article elaborates the often-implicit justifications for separate treatment and provides a more express statement of how and when such treatment is appropriate....
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005248951
Optimal policy rules--including those regarding income taxation, commodity taxation, public goods, and externalities--are typically derived in models with homogeneous preferences. This article reconsiders many central results for the case in which preferences for commodities, public goods, and...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005084879
probability and magnitude of sanctions; corruption; incapacitation; costly observation of wealth; social norms; and the fairness …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005014923
-led redistribution and greater acceptance of wage inequality (e.g., United States versus Western Europe). If individual nations evolve …-led redistribution to the poor. These patterns suggest that short-run inequality shocks can be reinforced in the labor market but do not … result in weaker political preferences for redistribution. …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10009395461
Alan Auerbach and Kevin Hassett offer a new measure of horizontal equity (HE) that is designed to overcome deficiencies in prior indexes. There is, however, a fundamental problem that their effort shares with their predecessors' attempts: the underlying rationale for pursuing HE at the expense...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005718894
We use an extended Barro-Becker model of endogenous fertility, in which parents are heterogeneous in their labor productivity, to study the efficient degree of consumption inequality in the long run. In our environment a utilitarian planner allows for consumption inequality even when labor...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005036789
A substantial literature examines second-best environmental policy, focusing particularly on how the Pigouvian directive that marginal taxes should equal marginal external harms needs to be modified in light of the preexisting distortion due to labor income taxation. Additional literature is...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005575754
rates, inequality, and income redistribution. We also extend that model to incorporate social preferences in the form of …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10010821742