Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Aggregate scale economies, market integration, and optimal welfare state policy

Contents:

Author Info

  • Molana, Hassan
  • Montagna, Catia

Abstract

Using a two-sector-two-country model with aggregate scale economies and unionisation, we show that optimal welfare state policy entails positive levels of unemployment benefits under free-trade and capital mobility. In this setting, economic integration does not reduce the revenue raising capacity of governments and thus does not lead to a race-to-the- bottom in social standards. Instead, trade and capital flows interact with welfare state policies in increasing welfare even when each government acts independently (non-cooperatively) in determining its optimal welfare payment. Cooperation is shown to improve upon noncooperative outcomes by raising both the generosity of the welfare state and aggregate welfare.

(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V6D-4H68P0D-1/2/4f397433615976bd5afd09c49e03a786
Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of International Economics.

Volume (Year): 69 (2006)
Issue (Month): 2 (July)
Pages: 321-340

as in new window
Handle: RePEc:eee:inecon:v:69:y:2006:i:2:p:321-340

Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505552

Related research

Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2003. "Do Social Policies Harm Employment and Growth?," CESifo Working Paper Series 886, CESifo Group Munich.
  2. Startz, Richard, 1989. "Monopolistic Competition as a Foundation for Keynesian Macroeconomic Models," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 104(4), pages 737-52, November.
  3. Olivier Blanchard & Francesco Giavazzi, 2001. "Macroeconomic Effects of Regulation and Deregulation in Goods and Labor Markets," NBER Working Papers 8120, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. Venables, Anthony J., 1993. "Equilibrium Locations of Vertically Linked Industries," CEPR Discussion Papers 802, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  5. Alberto Alesina & Roberto Perotti, 1994. "The Welfare State and Competitiveness," NBER Working Papers 4810, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  6. Kiminori Matsuyama, 1995. "Complementarities and Cumulative Processes in Models of Monopolistic Competition," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(2), pages 701-729, June.
  7. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1975. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 64, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
  8. Rodrik, Dani, 1996. "Why do More Open Economies Have Bigger Governments?," CEPR Discussion Papers 1388, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  9. Bretschger, Lucas & Hettich, Frank, 2000. "Globalisation, capital mobility and tax competition: Theory and evidence for OECD countries," Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Diskussionspapiere 07/2000, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, Faculty of Law and Economics.
  10. Daron Acemoglu & Robert Shimer, 1999. "Productivity Gains from Unemployment Insurance," Working papers 99-29, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
  11. Richard Baldwin; Paul Krugman, 2001. "Agglomeration, Integration and Tax Harmonization," IHEID Working Papers 01-2001, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
  12. Blanchard, Olivier Jean & Kiyotaki, Nobuhiro, 1987. "Monopolistic Competition and the Effects of Aggregate Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 647-66, September.
  13. Perotti, Roberto & Alesina, Alberto, 1997. "The Welfare State and Competitiveness," Scholarly Articles 4553027, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  14. Wilson, John Douglas & Wildasin, David E., 2004. "Capital tax competition: bane or boon," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 1065-1091, June.
  15. Bartelsman, Eric J & Caballero, Ricardo J & Lyons, Richard K, 1994. "Customer- and Supplier-Driven Externalities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 1075-84, September.
  16. Paul De Grauwe & Magdalena Polan, 2003. "Globalisation and Social Spending," CESifo Working Paper Series 885, CESifo Group Munich.
  17. Ethier, Wilfred J, 1982. "National and International Returns to Scale in the Modern Theory of International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(3), pages 389-405, June.
  18. N. Gregory Mankiw, 1989. "Imperfect Competition and the Keynesian Cross," NBER Working Papers 2386, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  19. Hart, Oliver, 1982. "A Model of Imperfect Competition with Keynesian Features," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 97(1), pages 109-38, February.
  20. De Grauwe, Paul & Polan, Magdalena, 2003. "Globalisation and social spending," Open Access publications from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven urn:hdl:123456789/119409, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
as in new window

Cited by:
  1. Hassan Molana & Catia Montagna, 2007. "Welfare State, Market Imperfections, and International Trade," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 95-118, February.
  2. Torben Andersen & Allan Sørensen, 2011. "Globalisation squeezes the public sector—is it so obvious?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 369-382, August.
  3. Torben M. Andersen & Allan Sørensen, 2012. "Globalization, Tax Distortions, and Public-Sector Retrenchment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(2), pages 409-439, 06.
  4. Holger Görg & Hassan Molana & Catia Montagna, 2007. "Foreign Direct Investment, Tax Competition and Social Expenditure," Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 198, Economic Studies, University of Dundee.
  5. Molana, Hassan & Montagna, Catia, 2007. "Expansionary effects of the welfare state in a small open economy," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 231-246, December.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:inecon:v:69:y:2006:i:2:p:321-340

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Wendy Shamier).

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.