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The Marginal Cost of Public Funds is the Ratio of Mean Income to median Income

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Author Info
Dan Usher () (Department of Economics, Queen's University)

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Abstract

The marginal cost of public funds is the equilibrium price at the intersection of the appropriately-defined demand curve for and the supply curve of public expenditure. In a world with identical people and with no excess burden of taxation, that price would have to be 1. Otherwise the median voter's choice of a demogrant - or of its opposite, a head tax - fixes the marginal cost of public funds at the ratio of the mean income to the median income. A proof of this assertion is presented not for its realism, but because it calls attention to the interaction of the different influences upon the marginal cost of public funds.

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File URL: http://www.econ.queensu.ca/working_papers/papers/qed_wp_1011.pdf
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File Function: First version 2002
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Queen's University, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number 1011.

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Length: 24 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:qed:wpaper:1011

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Related research
Keywords: Marginal Cost of Public Funds;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

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. Harry F. Campbell, 1975. "Deadweight Loss and Commodity Taxation in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 8(3), pages 441-47, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Atkinson, Anthony B & Stern, N H, 1974. "Pigou, Taxation and Public Goods," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(1), pages 119-28, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Wildasin, David E, 1984. "On Public Good Provision with Distortionary Taxation," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 227-43, April.
  4. Wilson, John Douglas, 1991. "Optimal Public Good Provision with Limited Lump-Sum Taxation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 153-66, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Hylland, Aanund & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1979. " Distributional Objectives Should Affect Taxes but not Program Choice or Design," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 81(2), pages 264-84.
  6. Austan Goolsbee, 2000. "What Happens When You Tax the Rich? Evidence from Executive Compensation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(2), pages 352-378, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Browning, Edgar K, 1976. "The Marginal Cost of Public Funds," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(2), pages 283-98, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Dahlby, Bev, 1998. "Progressive taxation and the social marginal cost of public funds," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 105-122, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Ballard, Charles L & Fullerton, Don, 1992. "Distortionary Taxes and the Provision of Public Goods," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 117-31, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Sandmo, Agnar, 1998. "Redistribution and the marginal cost of public funds," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 365-382, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(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. Jan Hanousek & Filip Palda, 2009. "Is there a displacement deadweight loss from tax evasion? Estimates using firm surveys from the Czech Republic," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 139-158, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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