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Should income inequality be praised? Multiple public goods provision, income distribution, and social welfare

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  • Itaya, Jun-ichi
  • Mizushima, Atsue

Abstract

We investigate how income inequality affects social welfare in a model of voluntary contributions to multiple pure public goods. Itaya, de Meza, and Myles (1997) show that the maximization of social welfare precludes income equality in a single pure public good model. In contrast, we show that the result of Itaya et al. may not be valid in a case of multiple voluntarily supplied public goods; specifically, we show that not only an income inequality-raising redistribution policy but also an income-equalizing one may raise social welfare. We also show that if altruistically motivated voluntary transfers are allowed, an inequality-raising redistribution policy is no longer effective and leaves social welfare unchanged.

Suggested Citation

  • Itaya, Jun-ichi & Mizushima, Atsue, 2016. "Should income inequality be praised? Multiple public goods provision, income distribution, and social welfare," Discussion paper series. A 298, Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration, Hokkaido University.
    • Handle: RePEc:hok:dpaper:298
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Browning,Martin & Chiappori,Pierre-André & Weiss,Yoram, 2014. "Economics of the Family," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521795395.
    2. R. C. Cornes & A. G. Schweinberger, 1996. "Free Riding and the Inefficiency of the Private Production of Pure Public Goods," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 29(1), pages 70-91, February.
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    4. Kemp, Murray C., 1984. "A note of the theory of international transfers," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 14(2-3), pages 259-262.
    5. Indraneel Dasgupta, 2008. "Why Praise Inequality? Public Good Provision, Income Distribution and Social Welfare," Discussion Papers 08/07, University of Nottingham, School of Economics.
    6. Warr, Peter G., 1983. "The private provision of a public good is independent of the distribution of income," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 207-211.
    7. Bergstrom, Theodore & Blume, Lawrence & Varian, Hal, 1986. "On the private provision of public goods," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 25-49, February.
    8. Richard Cornes & Todd Sandler, 2000. "Pareto‐Improving Redistribution and Pure Public Goods," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 1(2), pages 169-186, May.
    9. Richard Cornes & Jun‐Ichi Itaya, 2010. "On the Private Provision of Two or More Public Goods," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 12(2), pages 363-385, April.
    10. Vivekananda Mukherjee & Tilak Sanyal, 2011. "A NOTE ON WELFARE EFFECT AND DESIRABILITY OF INEQUALITY INDUCING TRANSFERS-super-♣," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 82(3), pages 301-311, September.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public goods; Inequality; Social welfare; Voluntary provision; Income distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household

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