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Will the Real Excess Burden Please Stand Up? (Or, Seven Measures in Search of a Concept)

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Author Info
Alan J. Auerbach
Harvey S. Rosen

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Abstract

It is well understood that a tax which distorts relative prices generates a welfare cost or "excess burden" in addition to any associated transfer of resources, but there remains considerable controversy and confusion with respect to procedures for measuring this excess burden. The purpose of this paper is to clarify matters concerning what is one of the most basic concepts in welfare economics. We describe and evaluate a number of alternative conceptual experiments which might lie behind an excess burden calculation, showing how these notions can be represented graphically and algebraically and how they can be approximated numerically.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 0495.

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Date of creation: Jun 1980
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Publication status: published as The Fiscal Behavior of State and Local Governments, Rosen, H., ed., Edward Elgar Publishing, 1997, pp. 301-322.
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0495

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Harvey S. Rosen & Kenneth A. Small, 1981. "Applied Welfare Economics with Discrete Choice Models," NBER Working Papers 0319, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Hause, John C, 1975. "The Theory of Welfare Cost Measurement," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(6), pages 1145-82, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Kay, J. A., 1980. "The deadweight loss from a tax system," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 111-119, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Wales, T J & Woodland, A D, 1976. "Estimation of Household Utility Functions and Labor Supply Response," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 17(2), pages 397-410, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Rosen, Harvey S, 1978. "The Measurement of Excess Burden with Explicit Utility Functions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(2), pages S121-35, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Diamond, P. A. & McFadden, D. L., 1974. "Some uses of the expenditure function in public finance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 3-21, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Willig, Robert D, 1976. "Consumer's Surplus without Apology," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(4), pages 589-97, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Don Fullerton, 1991. "If Labor is Inelastic, Are Taxes Still Distorting?," NBER Working Papers 2810, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Alan S. Blinder & Harvey S. Rosen, 1985. "Notches," NBER Working Papers 1416, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
    • Blinder, Alan S & Rosen, Harvey S, 1985. "Notches," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(4), pages 736-47, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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