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The Marginal Cost of Public Funds and the Flypaper Effect

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  • Dahlby, Bev

    () (University of Alberta, Department of Economics)

Abstract

A lump-sum intergovernmental transfer has a "price effect", as well as an "income effect", because it allows the recipient government to reduce its tax rate, which lowers its marginal cost of public funds, while still providing the same level of public service. This reduction in the effective price of providing the public service helps to explain the "flypaper effect" - the empirical observation that a lump-sum grant has a much larger effect on spending than an increase in personal income. Contrary to the assertions of Mieszkowski (1994) and Hines and Thaler (1995), a model of a benevolent local government financing its expenditures with a distortionary tax predicts flypaper effects from lump-sum grants that are similar to those observed in many econometric studies

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by University of Alberta, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number 2009-17.

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Length: 31 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2009
Date of revision: 01 Jun 2010
Handle: RePEc:ris:albaec:2009_017

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Keywords: flypaper effect; marginal cost of public funds; intergovernmental grants; fiscal federalism;

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References

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  1. John E. Roemer & Joaquim Silvestre, . "The ‘Flypaper Effect’ Is Not An Anomaly," Department of Economics 00-04, California Davis - Department of Economics.
  2. Hamilton, Jonathan H., 1986. "The flypaper effect and the deadweight loss from taxation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 148-155, March.
  3. Andrew Haughwout & Robert Inman & Steven Craig & Thomas Luce, 2004. "Local Revenue Hills: Evidence from Four U.S. Cities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 570-585, May.
  4. Michael Smart, 2007. "Raising taxes through equalization," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(4), pages 1188-1212, November.
  5. Bradford, David F & Oates, Wallace E, 1971. "An Analysis of Revenue Sharing in a New Approach to Collective Fiscal Decisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 85(3), pages 416-39, August.
  6. Hammes, David L & Wills, Douglas T, 1987. "Fiscal Illusion and the Grantor Government in Canada," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 25(4), pages 707-13, October.
  7. Baker, Michael & Payne, A. Abigail & Smart, Michael, 1999. "An empirical study of matching grants: the 'cap on CAP'," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 269-288, May.
  8. Craig Volden, 2007. "Intergovernmental Grants: A Formal Model of Interrelated National and Subnational Political Decisions," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, Oxford University Press, vol. 37(2), pages 209-243, Spring.
  9. Wallace E. Oates, 1999. "An Essay on Fiscal Federalism," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 1120-1149, September.
  10. Gary S. Becker & Casey B. Mulligan, 1998. "Deadweight Costs and the Size of Government," University of Chicago - George G. Stigler Center for Study of Economy and State 144, Chicago - Center for Study of Economy and State.
  11. Thiess Buettner & David E. Wildasin, 2002. "The Dynamics of Municipal Fiscal Adjustment," CESifo Working Paper Series 649, CESifo Group Munich.
  12. Dollery, Brian E & Worthington, Andrew C, 1996. " The Empirical Analysis of Fiscal Illusion," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(3), pages 261-97, September.
  13. Winer, Stanley L, 1983. "Some Evidence on the Effect of the Separation of Spending and Taxing Decisions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(1), pages 126-40, February.
  14. Dahlby, Bev, 2009. "The Optimal Taxation Approach to Intergovernmental Grants," Working Papers 2009-16, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
  15. Stewart, Mark F, 1996. "Fiscal Illusion (the Flypaper Effect) and Government Spending in Australia," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(67), pages 390-96, December.
  16. Bailey, Stephen J & Connolly, Stephen, 1998. " The Flypaper Effect: Identifying Areas for Further Research," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 95(3-4), pages 335-61, June.
  17. Michael Smart, 1998. "Taxation and Deadweight Loss in a System of Intergovernmental Transfers," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 31(1), pages 189-206, February.
  18. Logan, Robert R, 1986. "Fiscal Illusion and the Grantor Government," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(6), pages 1304-18, December.
  19. Peter C. Coyte & Stuart Landon, 1990. "Cost-Sharing versus Block-Funding in a Federal System: A Demand Systems Approach," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 23(4), pages 817-38, November.
  20. Bev Dahlby, 2008. "The Marginal Cost of Public Funds: Theory and Applications," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262042509.
  21. James R. Hines & Richard H. Thaler, 1995. "The Flypaper Effect," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 217-226, Fall.
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Cited by:
  1. Bev Dahlby & Ergete Ferede, 2012. "The Stimulative Effects of Intergovernmental Grants and the Marginal Cost of Public Funds," CESifo Working Paper Series 3863, CESifo Group Munich.

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