IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ten/wpaper/2023-01.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Optimal Taxation of Network Goods

Author

Listed:

Abstract

We derive optimal tax formulas for network goods. The solution trades-off contemporaneous revenue collection against the discounted future flows of reduced network growth. We provide conditions under which the optimal tax sequence is time-invariant, and show that the rates should in general change over time. A quantitative model with consumer heterogeneity highlights patterns in these optimal sequences, and underscores the equity trade-offs.

Suggested Citation

  • Enda Patrick Hargaden & Andrew Hanson & Matthew Harris, 2023. "The Optimal Taxation of Network Goods," Working Papers 2023-01, University of Tennessee, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ten:wpaper:2023-01
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://web.utk.edu/~jhollad3/RePEc/2023-01.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2023
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eckerstorfer, Paul & Wendner, Ronald, 2013. "Asymmetric and non-atmospheric consumption externalities, and efficient consumption taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 42-56.
    2. Saez, Emmanuel & Stantcheva, Stefanie, 2018. "A simpler theory of optimal capital taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 120-142.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Aronsson & Sugata Ghosh & Ronald Wendner, 2023. "Positional preferences and efficiency in a dynamic economy," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 61(2), pages 311-337, August.
    2. Hargaden, Enda & Hanson, Andrew & Harris, Matthew, 2023. "The Optimal Taxation of Network Goods," MPRA Paper 118661, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Hellwig, Christian & Werquin, Nicolas, 2022. "A Fair Day's Pay for a Fair Day's Work: Optimal Tax Design as Redistributional Arbitrage," TSE Working Papers 22-1284, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Jan 2023.
    4. Stefanie Stantcheva, 2020. "Dynamic Taxation," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 801-831, August.
    5. Findeisen, Sebastian & Sachs, Dominik, 2017. "Redistribution and insurance with simple tax instruments," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 58-78.
    6. Karl Schulz, 2021. "Redistribution of Return Inequality," CESifo Working Paper Series 8996, CESifo.
    7. Yannic Rehm & Lucas Chancel, 2022. "Measuring the Carbon Content of Wealth Evidence from France and Germany," PSE Working Papers halshs-03828939, HAL.
    8. European Commission, 2018. "Tax Policies in the European Union: 2018 Survey," Taxation Survey 2018, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    9. Moore, Rachel & Pecoraro, Brandon, 2023. "Quantitative analysis of a wealth tax for the United States: Exclusions and expenditures," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Asen Ivanov, 2023. "Borda-optimal taxation of labour income," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 60(3), pages 331-364, April.
    11. Henrik Kleven & Camille Landais & Mathilde Muñoz & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2020. "Taxation and Migration: Evidence and Policy Implications," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 119-142, Spring.
    12. Ufuk Akcigit & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2020. "Taxation and Innovation: What Do We Know?," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation and Public Policy, pages 189-212, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Ji Hyung Lee & Yuya Sasaki & Alexis Akira Toda & Yulong Wang, 2022. "Capital and Labor Income Pareto Exponents in the United States, 1916-2019," Papers 2206.04257, arXiv.org.
    14. Benchekroun, Hassan & Long, Ngo Van, 2016. "Status concern and the exploitation of common pool renewable resources," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 70-82.
    15. Thomas Blanchet, 2022. "Uncovering the Dynamics of the Wealth Distribution," Working Papers hal-03865295, HAL.
    16. Hashimoto, Ken-ichi & Ono, Yoshiyasu & Schlegl, Matthias, 2023. "Structural unemployment, underemployment, and secular stagnation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    17. König, Tobias & Lausen, Tobias, 2016. "Relative consumption preferences and public provision of private goods," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Behavior SP II 2016-213, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    18. Eichner, Thomas & Pethig, Rüdiger, 2022. "Kantians defy the economists’ mantra of uniform Pigovian emissions taxes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    19. Thomas Aronsson & Olof Johansson‐Stenman & Tomas Sjögren, 2019. "Social Comparisons and Optimal Taxation in a Small Open Economy," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(4), pages 1500-1532, October.
    20. Aronsson, Thomas & Johansson-Stenman, Olof & Wendner, Ronald, 2019. "Charity, Status, and Optimal Taxation: Welfarist and Paternalist Approaches," Umeå Economic Studies 959, Umeå University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Optimal taxation; network goods; consumption externalities; atmospheric externalities;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ten:wpaper:2023-01. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Scott Holladay (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecutkus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.