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Price Subsidies Versus Public Provision

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  • Sören Blömquist
  • Vidar Christiansen

Abstract

The paper investigates whether price subsidization or public provision of a private good, x, is the more efficient redistributional instrument in addition to an optimal nonlinear income tax. The identity of high and low skill individuals is assumed to be private information generating a self-selection constraint. If the high skill person's consumption of x is sufficiently large relative to that of the low skill person, public provision is the better scheme. With the opposite situation the price subsidy may be the preferred instrument. The paper also characterizes the mixed scheme where all the instruments are used optimally. The mixed scheme can be degenerate with only public provision being used in addition to the income tax. At an optimum where both instruments are used, good x is subsidized, the low skill person is supplementing and the high skill person is forced to overconsume. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1998

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  • Sören Blömquist & Vidar Christiansen, 1998. "Price Subsidies Versus Public Provision," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 5(3), pages 283-306, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:5:y:1998:i:3:p:283-306
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1008630110002
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    Cited by:

    1. Bearse, P. & Glomm, G. & Janeba, E., 2000. "Why poor countries rely mostly on redistribution in-kind," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 463-481, March.
    2. Thomas Bassetti & Luciano Greco, 2022. "Optimal redistributive policies by publicly provided inputs and income taxation," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(3), pages 504-528, June.
    3. Blomquist, Soren & Christiansen, Vidar, 1999. "The political economy of publicly provided private goods," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 31-54, July.
    4. Hoel, Michael & Saether, Erik Magnus, 2003. "Public health care with waiting time: the role of supplementary private health care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 599-616, July.
    5. Jacob, Johanna & Lundin, Douglas, 2005. "A median voter model of health insurance with ex post moral hazard," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 407-426, March.
    6. Alessandro Balestrino, 2000. "Mixed Tax Systems and the Public Provision of Private Goods," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 7(4), pages 463-478, August.
    7. Jukka Pirttilä & Ilpo Suoniemi, 2014. "Public Provision, Commodity Demand, and Hours of Work: An Empirical Analysis," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 116(4), pages 1044-1067, October.
    8. Matthew Greenblatt, 2020. "In-kind transfers and home production," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1189-1211, December.
    9. Sören Blömquist & Vidar Christiansen, 1998. "Price Subsidies Versus Public Provision," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 5(3), pages 283-306, July.
    10. Sören Blomquist & Luca Micheletto, 2009. "Nonlinear Income Taxation And Matching Grants In A Federation With Decentralized In-Kind Transfers," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 50(2), pages 543-575, May.
    11. Pirttila, Jukka & Tuomala, Matti, 2004. "Poverty alleviation and tax policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1075-1090, October.
    12. Luciano G. Greco, 2011. "Optimal Redistribution with Productive Social Services," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 113(1), pages 55-73, March.
    13. Elena Del Rey, 2001. "Economic Integration and Public Provision of Education," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 28(2), pages 203-218, June.
    14. Sören Blomquist & Vidar Christiansen, 2003. "Is there a Case for Public Provision of Private Goods if Preferences are Heterogeneous? An Example with Day Care," CESifo Working Paper Series 938, CESifo.
    15. Chen, Jie & Nong, Huifu, 2016. "The heterogeneity of market supply effects of public housing provision: Empirical evidence from China," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 115-127.
    16. Janet Currie & Firouz Gahvari, 2008. "Transfers in Cash and In-Kind: Theory Meets the Data," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 333-383, June.
    17. Jukka Pirttilä & Sanna Tenhunen, 2008. "Pawns and queens revisited: public provision of private goods when individuals make mistakes," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 15(5), pages 599-619, October.
    18. Jack, William, 2000. "Health insurance reform in four Latin American countries : theory and practice," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2492, The World Bank.
    19. Anne Emblem, 2002. "Redistribution at the Hospital," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 9(4), pages 367-378, August.
    20. Thomas Bassetti & Luciano Greco, 2015. "Optimal Taxation and Productive Social Expenditure," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0196, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    21. Blomquist, Sören & Christiansen, Vidar, 2004. "Welfare Enhancing Marginal Tax Rates: The Case of Publicly Provided Day Care," Arbetsrapport 2004:6, Institute for Futures Studies.
    22. Zanola, Roberto, 2000. "Public goods versus publicly provided private goods in a two-class economy," POLIS Working Papers 12, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    price subsidy; public provision; private goods; in-kind transfers; optimal taxation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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