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A note on optimal taxation, status consumption, and unemployment

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  • Aronsson, Thomas
  • Johansson-Stenman, Olof

Abstract

Existing research on optimal taxation in economies with status-driven relative consumption (implicitly) assumes that there is no involuntary unemployment, despite ample evidence that real world labor markets are typically characterized by such unemployment. We show how the marginal tax policy ought to be modified to simultaneously account for positional consumption externalities and equilibrium unemployment, and find that interaction effects between these two market failures are crucial determinants of the marginal tax structure. In certain cases, the policy incentive to tax away positional externalities vanishes completely, and negative positional externalities may even lead to lower marginal taxation, under involuntary unemployment.

Suggested Citation

  • Aronsson, Thomas & Johansson-Stenman, Olof, 2021. "A note on optimal taxation, status consumption, and unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:200:y:2021:i:c:s0047272721000943
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104458
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    Cited by:

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    3. Aronsson, Thomas & Johansson-Stenman, Olof, 2023. "Optimal Taxation and Other-Regarding Preferences," Working Papers in Economics 837, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    4. Aronsson, Thomas & Sjögren, Tomas & Yadav, Sonal, 2022. "A Note on Optimal Taxation under Status Consumption and Preferences for Equality," Umeå Economic Studies 1009, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    5. Desiree I. Christofzik & Sebastian G. Kessing, 2023. "On the Public Provision of Positional Goods," Volkswirtschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 196-23, Universität Siegen, Fakultät Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Wirtschaftsinformatik und Wirtschaftsrecht.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Optimal taxation; Relative consumption; Externalities; Unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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