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Does Tax Competition Raise Voter Welfare?

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Author Info
Besley, Timothy J.
Smart, Michael

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Abstract

Economists who believe that government is essentially benevolent tend to regard inter-governmental competition as a source of negative externalities that lower welfare. In contrast the public choice perspective, particularly that motivated by the Leviathan model, sees such competition as potentially beneficial. This Paper considers a world consisting of politicians of both kinds – self-interested and welfare maximizing. Imperfect information prevents identification of the latter. We model the political equilibrium of the model and then examine the consequences of introducing competition for mobile resources or yardstick competition. In both cases there is a trade-off between effects on politician discipline and selection. Contrary to the existing view, we show that competition is most likely to be welfare improving for voters when it is more likely that politicians are benevolent and bad for welfare when it is most likely that politicians are of the rent seeking type.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 3131.

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Date of creation: Jan 2002
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3131

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General

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  1. Lars P. Feld & Emmanuelle Reulier, 2005. "Strategic Tax Competition in Switzerland: Evidence from a Panel of the Swiss Cantons," CREMA Working Paper Series 2005-19, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Canegrati, Emanuele, 2006. "Political Bad Reputation," MPRA Paper 1018, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  3. Johannes Rincke, 2005. "Yardstick Competition and Policy Innovation," Public Economics 0511010, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  4. Devereux, Michael P & Lockwood, Ben & Redoano, Michela, 2002. "Do Countries Compete over Corporate Tax Rates?," CEPR Discussion Papers 3400, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Eric Le Borgne & Ben Lockwood, 2002. "Candidate Entry, Screening, and the Political Budget Cycle," IMF Working Papers 02/48, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Hongbin Cai & Daniel Treisman, 2005. "Does Competition for Capital Discipline Governments? Decentralization, Globalization, and Public Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 817-830, June. [Downloadable!]
  7. Janeba, Eckhard & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2008. "The Welfare Effects of Tax Competition Reconsidered: Politicians and Political Institutions," Discussion Papers 2008/22, Department of Finance and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Martin Bodenstein & Heinrich Ursprung, 2005. "Political yardstick competition, economic integration, and constitutional choice in a federation:," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 329-352, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Borgne, Eric Le & Lockwood, Ben, 2004. "Do Elections Always Notivate Incumbents? Learning Vs Career Concerns," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 714, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Lucia Buenrostro & Amrita Dhillon & Myrna H. Wooders, 2006. "Protests and Reputation," Working Papers 0615, Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Marcin Piatkowski & Mariusz Jarmuzek, 2008. "Zero Corporate Income Tax in Moldova: Tax Competition and Its Implications for Eastern Europe," IMF Working Papers 08/203, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  12. Canegrati, Emanuele, 2006. "Yardstick competition: a spatial voting model approach," MPRA Paper 1017, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  13. SALMON, Pierre, 2003. "Assigning powers in the European Union in the light of yardstick competition among governments," LEG - Document de travail - Economie 2003-03, LEG, Laboratoire d'Economie et de Gestion, CNRS UMR 5118, Université de Bourgogne. [Downloadable!]
  14. Federico Revelli, 2004. "Performance Rating and Yardstick Competition in Social Service Provision," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
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  15. James E. Alt & David Dreyer Lassen, 2003. "Fiscal Transparency and Fiscal Policy Outcomes in OECD Countries," EPRU Working Paper Series 03-02, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  16. Federico Revelli, 2005. "On Spatial Public Finance Empirics," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 475-492, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Devereux, Michael & Lockwood, Ben & Redoano, Michela, 2004. "Horizontal And Vertical Indirect Tax Competition : Theory And Some Evidence From The Usa," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 704, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  18. Wooders, Myrna & Zissimos, Ben, 2003. "Hotelling Tax Competition," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  19. Jean Hindriks & Ben Lockwood, 2005. "Decentralization and Electoral Accountability: Incentives, Separation, and Voter Welfare," Working Papers 2006-02, University of Kentucky, Institute for Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  20. Eckhard Janeba & Guttorm Schjelderup, 2002. "Why Europe Should Love Tax Competition - and the U.S. Even More So," NBER Working Papers 9334, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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