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Public Goods through Taxation in a General Equilibrium Economy: Experimental Evidence

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Abstract

We use a laboratory experiment to compare general equilibrium economies in which agents individually allocate their private goods among consumption, investment in production and maintenance of a depreciating public facility. The public facility is financed either by voluntary anonymous contributions (VAC) or taxes. We find that rates of taxation chosen by majority vote remain at an intermediate level, converging neither to zero nor to 100%, and the experimental economies sustain public goods at levels between the finite- and infinite-horizon optima. This contrasts with a rapid decline of public goods under voluntary anonymous contributions (VAC). Both the payoff efficiency and production of private goods are higher when taxes are set endogenously instead of being fixed at the optimum level. When subjects choose between VAC and taxation, 23 out of 24 majority votes favor taxation.

Suggested Citation

  • Juergen Huber & Martin Shubik & Shyam Sunder, 2011. "Public Goods through Taxation in a General Equilibrium Economy: Experimental Evidence," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1830RR, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jul 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1830rr
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    File URL: https://cowles.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/pub/d18/d1830-r2.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public goods; Experiment; Voting; Taxation; Evolution of institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)

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