IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/pubfin/v18y1990i1p123-134.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Public Choice Explanation for the Decline in Real income Transfers

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher B. Colburn

    (Old Dominion University)

Abstract

A public choice model is used to explain the decline in the sum of AFDC and food stamp transfers that occurred about the time the food stamp program was introduced. The theoretical results suggest that the decline may be due to an increase in the marginal cost of income redistribution that results from the negative income tax feature of the food stamp program and the increase in federal tax that is required to finance the program.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher B. Colburn, 1990. "A Public Choice Explanation for the Decline in Real income Transfers," Public Finance Review, , vol. 18(1), pages 123-134, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:18:y:1990:i:1:p:123-134
    DOI: 10.1177/109114219001800109
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/109114219001800109
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/109114219001800109?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johnson, William R, 1988. "Income Redistribution in a Federal System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(3), pages 570-573, June.
    2. Brown, Charles C. & Oates, Wallace E., 1987. "Assistance to the poor in a federal system," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 307-330, April.
    3. Edward M. Gramlich, 1982. "An Econometric Examination of the New Federalism," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 13(2), pages 327-370.
    4. Hugh Spall, 1978. "State tax structure and the supply of AFDC assistance," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 33(4), pages 85-96, December.
    5. Orr, Larry L, 1976. "Income Transfers as a Public Good: An Application to AFDC," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(3), pages 359-371, June.
    6. Moffitt, Robert A., 1984. "The effects of grants-in-aid on state and local expenditures : The case of AFDC," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 279-305, April.
    7. Plotnick, Robert D. & Winters, Richard F., 1985. "A Politico-Economic Theory of Income Redistribution," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(2), pages 458-473, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Moffitt, Robert & Ribar, David & Wilhelm, Mark, 1998. "The decline of welfare benefits in the U.S.: the role of wage inequality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 421-452, June.
    2. Smith, Mark W, 1999. "Should we expect a race to the bottom in welfare benefits? Evidence from a multistate panel, 1979-1995," MPRA Paper 10125, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Moffitt, Robert, 1990. "Has State Redistribution Policy Grown More Conservative?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 43(2), pages 123-142, June.
    4. Howard Chernick, 1998. "Fiscal Effects of Block Grants for the Needy: An Interpretation of the Evidence," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 5(2), pages 205-233, May.
    5. Pauline Leung, 2021. "State Responses to Federal Matching Grants: The Case of Medicaid," Working Papers 647, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    6. James R. Baumgardner, 1993. "Tests of Median Voter and Political Support Maximization Models: the Case of Federal/State Welfare Programs," Public Finance Review, , vol. 21(1), pages 48-83, January.
    7. Leung, Pauline, 2022. "State responses to federal matching grants: The case of medicaid," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    8. Christopher B. Colburn & John B. Horowitz, 1998. "Efficiency Costs and the Demand for Income Redistribution," Public Finance Review, , vol. 26(3), pages 214-230, May.
    9. Luis Ayala & Ana Herrero & Jorge Martinez‐Vazquez, 2021. "Welfare benefits in highly decentralized fiscal systems: Evidence on interregional mimicking," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(5), pages 1178-1208, October.
    10. Kangoh Lee, 2003. "Factor Ownership and Governmental Strategic Interaction," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 5(2), pages 345-361, April.
    11. Steven Craig & Robert P. Inman, 1986. "Education, Welfare and the "New" Federalism: State Budgeting in a Federalist Public Economy," NBER Chapters, in: Studies in State and Local Public Finance, pages 187-228, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Lunder, Trond Erik, 2016. "Between centralized and decentralized welfare policy: Have national guidelines constrained the influence of local preferences?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-13.
    13. Baker, Michael & Payne, A. Abigail & Smart, Michael, 1999. "An empirical study of matching grants: the 'cap on CAP'," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 269-288, May.
    14. Gundersen, Craig & LeBlanc, Michael & Kuhn, Betsey A., 1999. "The Changing Food Assistance Landscape: The Food Stamp Program in a Post-Welfare Reform Environment," Agricultural Economic Reports 33993, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    15. William Sander & J. Giertz, 1986. "The political economy of state level welfare benefits," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 209-219, January.
    16. Howard Chernick, 1992. "A Model of the Distributional Incidence of State and Local Taxes," Public Finance Review, , vol. 20(4), pages 572-585, October.
    17. John B. Horowitz, 2002. "Why Higher Real Wages May Reduce Altruism for the Poor," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 28(3), pages 351-362, Summer.
    18. María Martínez Torres, "undated". "Flujos migratorios interregionales en Espana: Un modelo de ecuaciones simultáneas," Studies on the Spanish Economy 207, FEDEA.
    19. Wheaton, William C., 2000. "Decentralized Welfare: Will There Be Underprovision?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 536-555, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:18:y:1990:i:1:p:123-134. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.