IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jetheo/v147y2012i2p407-425.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Subscription equilibrium with production: Non-neutrality and constrained suboptimality

Author

Listed:
  • Villanacci, Antonio
  • Zenginobuz, Ünal

Abstract

We study a general equilibrium model with a non-profit firm producing a public good using private goods as inputs which are financed by voluntary contributions (subscriptions) of households. We analyze policy interventions that increase the public good level at subscription equilibria, and show that some of the standard results of the neutrality literature do not survive in our model with many private goods and relative price effects allowed. First, we show that a redistribution away from a contributor or even a decrease in the total wealth of all contributors (while the contributing set of agents remains intact) can lead to an increase in the provided level of public good. Moreover, we prove that increasing the production of public good is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition to increase all householdsʼ welfare. Finally, we present conditions under which, for a generic set of economies, well chosen interventions will Pareto improve upon a given subscription equilibrium outcome. As a consequence, a general non-neutrality result in terms of utilities holds even if all households are contributors.

Suggested Citation

  • Villanacci, Antonio & Zenginobuz, Ünal, 2012. "Subscription equilibrium with production: Non-neutrality and constrained suboptimality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 407-425.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:147:y:2012:i:2:p:407-425
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2010.08.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022053110001250
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jet.2010.08.012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Villanacci, Antonio & Zenginobuz, E. Unal, 2006. "Subscription equilibria with public production: Existence and regularity," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(4), pages 199-215, December.
    2. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1, March.
    3. Atsushi Kajii & Antonio Villanacci & Alessandro Citanna, 1998. "Constrained suboptimality in incomplete markets: a general approach and two applications," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 11(3), pages 495-521.
    4. Antonio Villanacci & Ünal Zenginobuz, 2007. "On the Neutrality of Redistribution in a General Equilibrium Model with Public Goods," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 9(2), pages 183-200, April.
    5. Douglas Young, 1982. "Voluntary purchase of public goods," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 73-85, March.
    6. Warr, Peter G., 1983. "The private provision of a public good is independent of the distribution of income," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 207-211.
    7. Warr, Peter G., 1982. "Pareto optimal redistribution and private charity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 131-138, October.
    8. Bergstrom, Theodore & Blume, Lawrence & Varian, Hal, 1986. "On the private provision of public goods," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 25-49, February.
    9. David Cass & Alessandro Citanna, 1998. "Pareto improving financial innovation in incomplete markets," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 11(3), pages 467-494.
    10. Brennan, Geoffrey & Pincus, Jonathan J, 1983. "Government Expenditure Growth and Resource Allocation: The Nebulous Connection," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 35(3), pages 351-365, November.
    11. Bernheim, B Douglas, 1986. "On the Voluntary and Involuntary Provision of Public Goods," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 789-793, September.
    12. Antonio Villanacci & Ünal Zenginobuz, 2006. "Pareto improving interventions in a general equilibrium model with private provision of public goods," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 10(3), pages 249-271, December.
    13. Kemp, Murray C., 1984. "A note of the theory of international transfers," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 14(2-3), pages 259-262.
    14. Villanacci, Antonio & Zenginobuz, E.Unal, 2005. "Existence and regularity of equilibria in a general equilibrium model with private provision of a public good," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(4-5), pages 617-636, August.
    15. Milleron, Jean-Claude, 1972. "Theory of value with public goods: A survey article," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 419-477, December.
    16. Martin McGuire, 1974. "Group size, group homo-geneity, and the aggregate provision of a pure public good under cournot behavior," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 107-126, June.
    17. Andreoni, James, 1988. "Privately provided public goods in a large economy: The limits of altruism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 57-73, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Faias, Marta & Moreno, Emma & Wooders, Myrna, 2009. "A Strategic market game approach for the private provision of public goods," MPRA Paper 37777, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 08 Mar 2012.
    2. Elena L. Mercato & Vincenzo Platino, 2017. "On the regularity of smooth production economies with externalities: competitive equilibrium à la Nash," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 63(1), pages 287-307, January.
    3. Balasko, Yves & Geanakoplos, John, 2012. "Introduction to general equilibrium," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 400-406.
    4. Gregor, Martin, 2015. "Task divisions in teams with complementary tasks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 102-120.
    5. Burak Unveren, 2017. "Stability and Taxation in Monopolistic Competition," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(4), pages 2315-2323.
    6. Faias, Marta & Moreno-García, Emma & Wooders, Myrna, 2015. "On neutrality with multiple private and public goods," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 103-106.

    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. Unal Zenginobuz & Antonio Villanacci, 2009. "Subscription Equilibrium with Production: Neutrality and Constrained Suboptimality of Equilibria," Working Papers 2009/03, Bogazici University, Department of Economics.
    2. Antonio Villanacci & Ünal Zenginobuz, 2007. "On the Neutrality of Redistribution in a General Equilibrium Model with Public Goods," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 9(2), pages 183-200, April.
    3. Kung, Fan-chin, 2008. "Voluntary contributions to multiple public goods in a production economy with widespread externalities," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(12), pages 1364-1378, December.
    4. Antonio Villanacci & Ünal Zenginobuz, 2006. "Pareto improving interventions in a general equilibrium model with private provision of public goods," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 10(3), pages 249-271, December.
    5. Buchholz, Wolfgang & Konrad, Kai A., 1995. "Strategic transfers and private provision of public goods," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 489-505, July.
    6. Faias, Marta & Moreno, Emma & Wooders, Myrna, 2009. "A Strategic market game approach for the private provision of public goods," MPRA Paper 37777, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 08 Mar 2012.
    7. Morath, Florian, 2010. "Strategic information acquisition and the mitigation of global warming," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 206-217, March.
    8. Ledyard, John O., "undated". "Public Goods: A Survey of Experimental Research," Working Papers 861, California Institute of Technology, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
    9. Jim Andreoni, "undated". "Do Government Subsidies Affect the Private Supply of Public Goods?," Papers _033, University of Michigan, Department of Economics.
    10. Tomáš Sigmund, 2015. "Vztah etického a ekonomického chování [The relationship of ethical and economic behaviour]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2015(2), pages 223-243.
    11. Aleix Calveras & Juan-José Ganuza & Gerard Llobet, 2011. "Voluntary contributions “vote out” public ones," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 283-303, September.
    12. Mari Rege, 1999. "Social Norms and Private Provision of Public Goods: Endogenous Peer Groups," Discussion Papers 257, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    13. Mari Rege, 2004. "Social Norms and Private Provision of Public Goods," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 6(1), pages 65-77, February.
    14. Faias, Marta & Moreno-García, Emma & Wooders, Myrna, 2015. "On neutrality with multiple private and public goods," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 103-106.
    15. Scharf, Kimberley Ann, 2000. "Why are tax expenditures for giving embodied in fiscal constitutions?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 365-387, March.
    16. Horstmann, Ignatius J. & Scharf, Kimberley & Slivinski, Al, 2007. "Can private giving promote economic segregation?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 1095-1118, June.
    17. Konrad, Kai A., 1992. "The advantage of being poor: private provision of public goods, strategic incentives and the role of public provision," EconStor Research Reports 112687, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    18. Amihai Glazer, 2014. "The Profit-maximizing Non-profit," Working Papers 131404, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics.
    19. James Andreoni, 1998. "Toward a Theory of Charitable Fund-Raising," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1186-1213, December.
    20. Brunner, Eric & Sonstelie, Jon, 2003. "School finance reform and voluntary fiscal federalism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(9-10), pages 2157-2185, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    General equilibrium; Public goods; Subscription equilibrium; Neutrality; Pareto improving interventions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D51 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Exchange and Production Economies
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

    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:eee:jetheo:v:147:y:2012:i:2:p:407-425. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622869 .

    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.