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Redistribution and the Notion of Social Status

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Author Info
Ennio Bilancini ()
Leonardo Boncinelli ()

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Abstract

In this paper we study the impact of redistributive policies when agents can signal their relative standing by spending on a conspicuous good. In particular, we analyze how the shape of the status function (i.e. how relative standing is computed and evaluated) may affect the equilibrium outcome of the model. Our main nding is that, if status depends in a cardinal way on individuals' relative standing, then a redistribution from the rich to the poor can be Pareto improving. We identify a necessary and sucient condition for the latter case.

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File URL: http://www.recent.unimore.it/wp/RECent-wp29.pdf
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Modena and Reggio E., Dept. of Economics in its series Center for Economic Research (RECent) with number 029.

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Length: pages 21
Date of creation: Dec 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:mod:recent:029

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Web page: http://www.recent.unimore.it/
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Related research
Keywords: social status; relative standing; consumption externalities; redistribution; signalling; conspicuous consumption; income inequality;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities

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This page was last updated on 2009-11-6.

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