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The Art of Making Everybody Happy: How to Prevent a Secession

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Author Info
Shlomo Weber
Michel Le Breton
Abstract

In this paper we consider a model of the country with heterogeneous population and examine compensation schemes that may prevent a threat of secession by dissatisfied regions. We show that horizontal imbalances are combatable with secession-proof compensation schemes that entail a degree of partial equalization: the disadvantageous regions should be subsidized but the burden on advantageous regions should not be too excessive. In the case of uniform distribution, we establish the 50-percent compensation rule for disadvantageous regions. Thus, we argue for a limited gap reduction between advantageous and disadvantageous regions and show that neither laissez faire nor Rawlsian allocation is secession-proof.

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Paper provided by International Monetary Fund in its series IMF Working Papers with number 01/176.

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Length: 36 pages
Date of creation: 26 Nov 2001
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Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:01/176

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Keywords: Population ; Equal treatment principle ; Economic models ;

References listed on IDEAS
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  3. Casella, Alessandra, 1992. "On Markets and Clubs: Economic and Political Integration of Regions with Unequal Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(2), pages 115-21, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Wittman, Donald, 1991. "Nations and States: Mergers and Acquisitions; Dissolutions and Divorce," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 126-29, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Guesnerie, Roger & Oddou, Claude, 1981. "Second best taxation as a game," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 67-91, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Jehiel, Philippe & Scotchmer, Suzanne, 2001. "Constitutional Rules of Exclusion in Jurisdiction Formation," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 68(2), pages 393-413, April.
  7. Bordignon, Massimo & Brusco, Sandro, 1999. "Optimal secession rules," ZEW Discussion Papers 99-51, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Bolton, Patrick & Roland, Gerard, 1996. "Distributional Conflicts, Factor Mobility, and Political Integration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 99-104, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Buchanan, James M & Faith, Roger L, 1987. "Secession and the Limits of Taxation: Toward a Theory of Internal Exit," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 1023-31, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Greenberg, Joseph & Weber, Shlomo, 1986. "Strong tiebout equilibrium under restricted preferences domain," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 101-117, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Alberto Alesina & Enrico Spolaore, 1996. "International Conflict, Defense Spending and the Size of Countries," NBER Working Papers 5694, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Caplin, Andrew & Nalebuff, Barry, 1991. "Aggregation and Social Choice: A Mean Voter Theorem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(1), pages 1-23, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Alberto Alesina & Enrico Spolaore & Romain Wacziarg, 1997. "Economic Integration and Political Disintegration," NBER Working Papers 6163, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Weber, Shlomo, 1992. "On Hierarchical Spatial Competition," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 59(2), pages 407-25, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Friedman, David, 1977. "A Theory of the Size and Shape of Nations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(1), pages 59-77, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Fidrmuc, Jan, 1999. "Stochastic Shocks and Incentives for (Dis)Integration," CEPR Discussion Papers 2104, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Robert Dur & Klaas Staal, 2003. "National Interference in Local Public Good Provision," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 03-074/1, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  2. Klaas Staal, 2004. "Country Size and Public Good Provision," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-026/1, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  3. Santiago Lago Peñas, 2002. "Nivelación interterritorial e ineficiencia de las decisiones presupuestarias: reflexiones para el caso español," Hacienda Pública Española, IEF, vol. 162(3), pages 79-100, ¨Septemb. [Downloadable!]
  4. Alessandra Casella, 2002. "Redistribution Policy: A European Model," NBER Working Papers 9258, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Matthew O. Jackson & Antonio Nicolo, 2002. "The Strategy-Proof Provision of Public Goods under Congestion and Crowding Preferences," Microeconomics 0211005, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Savvateev Alexey, 2004. "Achieving stability in heterogeneous societies: multi-jurisdictional structures, and redistribution policies," EERC Working Paper Series 04-13e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS. [Downloadable!]
  7. Klaas Staal, 2006. "Country size and publicly provided goods," Discussion Papers 187, SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich. [Downloadable!]
  8. K Staal, 2004. "Country size and public good provision," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 156, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
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