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Pareto Improving Taxes

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Author Info
J. D. Geanakoplos () (Cowles Foundation, Yale University)
H. M. Polemarchakis (Economics, University of Warwick)
Abstract

We show that in almost every economy with separable externalities, every competitive equilibrium can be Pareto improved by a package of anonymous commodity taxes that cause prices to adjust and markets to reclear at different levels of individual consumption. The argument can be extended to economies with strategic interactions, incomplete asset markets or asymmetric information. This constrained suboptimality of competitive allocations might provide a rationale for economic policy in economies with externalities.

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File URL: http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/cd/d15b/d1576.pdf
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Cowles Foundation, Yale University in its series Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers with number 1576.

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Length: 27 pages
Date of creation: Aug 2006
Date of revision:
Publication status: Published in Journal of Mathematical Economics (2008), 44: 682-696
Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1576

Note: CFP 1235.
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Web page: http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/
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Postal: Cowles Foundation, Yale University, Box 208281, New Haven, CT 06520-8281 USA

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Related research
Keywords: Commodity taxes; Constrained suboptimality;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D50 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - General
D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Mirrlees, J A, 1999. "The Theory of Moral Hazard and Unobservable Behaviour: Part I," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 66(1), pages 3-21, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Andrés Carvajal, . "Testable Restrictions of General Equilibrium Theory in Exchange Economies with Externalities," Borradores de Economia 231, Banco de la Republica de Colombia. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Kenneth Arrow, 1970. "Political and Economic Evaluation of Social Effects and Externalities," NBER Chapters, in: The Analysis of Public Output, pages 1-30 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  4. Hurwicz, Leonid, 1973. "The Design of Mechanisms for Resource Allocation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 1-30, May.
  5. Debreu, Gerard, 1976. "Smooth Preferences: A Corrigendum," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 44(4), pages 831-32, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Hurwicz, Leonid, 1979. "On allocations attainable through Nash equilibria," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 140-165, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Debreu, Gerard, 1970. "Economies with a Finite Set of Equilibria," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 38(3), pages 387-92, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Diamond, P. A., 1975. "A many-person Ramsey tax rule," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 335-342, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Peter A. Diamond & J. A. Mirrlees, 1968. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production," Working papers 22, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
  10. Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(114), pages 175-208, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Guesnerie, Roger, 1977. "On the direction of tax reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 179-202, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Akerlof, George A, 1970. "The Market for 'Lemons': Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Greenwald, Bruce C & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1986. "Externalities in Economies with Imperfect Information and Incomplete Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 229-64, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Geanakoplos, J. D. & Polemarchakis, H. M., 1990. "Observability and optimality," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1-2), pages 153-165. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Debreu, Gerard, 1972. "Smooth Preferences," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 40(4), pages 603-15, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. CITANNA, Alessandro & POLEMARCHAKIS, Herakles M. & TIRELLI, Mario, 2001. "The taxation of trades in assets," CORE Discussion Papers 2001017, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  17. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1982. "The Inefficiency of the Stock Market Equilibrium," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(2), pages 241-61, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Herakles Polemarchakis, 2001. "The taxation of trades in assests," Working Papers 2001-21, Brown University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  19. Snyder, Susan K., 1999. "Testable restrictions of Pareto optimal public good provision," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 97-119, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Atsushi Kajii & Antonio Villanacci & Alessandro Citanna, 1998. "Constrained suboptimality in incomplete markets: a general approach and two applications," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 495-521. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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