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A Second-Best Theory of Local Government Policy

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Author Info
Dietmar Wellisch
Jorg Hülshorst
Abstract

This paper provides a model where a large number of small jurisdictions compete for mobile firms and households by supplying local public goods and factors. Jurisdictions only have an incomplete set of tax instruments at their disposal to achieve an efficient allocation. We derive second-best behavioral rules for local governments and extend optimal taxation results to the local level. Local governments distort locational decisions of mobile firms and households by taxing them above marginal congestion costs so as to balance relative locational distortions between taxes. The analysis also reveals that there is a systematic difference between the provision of local public goods and factors. While local public goods are provided according to the Samuelson rule in most situations considered, local public factors are undersupplied relative to this rule. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2000

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1023/A:1008749628237
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal International Tax and Public Finance.

Volume (Year): 7 (2000)
Issue (Month): 1 (February)
Pages: 5-22
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Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:7:y:2000:i:1:p:5-22

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Related research
Keywords: optimal taxation; local government finance;

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Burbidge, John B. & Myers, Gordon M., 1994. "Population mobility and capital tax competition," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 441-459, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64, pages 416. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Atkinson, Anthony B & Stern, N H, 1974. "Pigou, Taxation and Public Goods," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(1), pages 119-28, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Skinner, Jonathan, 1991. "Prospects for Agricultural Land Taxation in Developing Countries," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 493-511, September.
  5. Richter, Wolfram F. & Wellisch, Dietmar, 1996. "The provision of local public goods and factors in the presence of firm and household mobility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 73-93, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Wildasin, David E, 1984. "On Public Good Provision with Distortionary Taxation," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 227-43, April.
  7. Gordon, Roger H, 1983. "An Optimal Taxation Approach to Fiscal Federalism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 98(4), pages 567-86, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Brueckner, Jan K., 1983. "Property value maximization and public sector efficiency," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Dietmar Wellisch, 1995. "Can household mobility solve basic environmental problems?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 245-260, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Wilson, John Douglas, 1991. "Optimal Public Good Provision with Limited Lump-Sum Taxation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 153-66, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Skinner, Jonathan, 1991. "If Agricultural Land Taxation Is So Efficient, Why Is It So Rarely Used?," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(1), pages 113-33, January.
  12. Slemrod, Joel, 1990. "Optimal Taxation and Optimal Tax Systems," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 157-78, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Krelove, R., 1993. "The persistence and inefficiency of property tax finance of local public expenditures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 415-435, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Henderson, J. Vernon, 1994. "Community choice of revenue instruments," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 159-183, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Wellisch, Dietmar, 1994. "Interregional spillovers in the presence of perfect and imperfect household mobility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 167-184, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Wilson, John D., 1986. "A theory of interregional tax competition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 296-315, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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