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Consumption taxes in monopolistic competition: a comment

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  • Henrik Vetter

Abstract

We show that an ad valorem tax is better than an equal-revenue unit tax when consumers spend some fixed proportion of income on taxed goods, when firms use constant mark-up pricing, and entry and exit drive per-firm profit to zero. These key assumptions implies that ad valorem taxes are superior in oligopoly as well as monopolistic competition, showing that earlier results on taxes in monopolistic competition (Schröder in J Econ 83(3):281–292, 2004 ) are not due to the mode of competition, but rather are due to the functional forms used. Copyright Springer-Verlag Wien 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Henrik Vetter, 2013. "Consumption taxes in monopolistic competition: a comment," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 287-295, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jeczfn:v:110:y:2013:i:3:p:287-295
    DOI: 10.1007/s00712-012-0320-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Michael Spence, 1976. "Product Selection, Fixed Costs, and Monopolistic Competition," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 43(2), pages 217-235.
    2. Delipalla, Sofia & Keen, Michael, 1992. "The comparison between ad valorem and specific taxation under imperfect competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 351-367, December.
    3. Susanne Dröge & Philipp Schröder, 2009. "The welfare comparison of corrective ad valorem and unit taxes under monopolistic competition," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 16(2), pages 164-175, April.
    4. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
    5. Leslie Reinhorn, 2012. "Optimal taxation with monopolistic competition," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(2), pages 216-236, April.
    6. Stephen F. Hamilton, 2009. "Excise Taxes with Multiproduct Transactions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 458-471, March.
    7. Philipp J. H. Schröder, 2004. "The Comparison between Ad Valorem and Unit Taxes under Monopolistic Competition," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 83(3), pages 281-292, December.
    8. D. B. Suits & R. A. Musgrave, 1953. "Ad Valorem and Unit Taxes Compared," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 67(4), pages 598-604.
    9. Stern, Nicholas, 1987. "The effects of taxation, price control and government contracts in oligopoly and monopolistic competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 133-158, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hiroshi Aiura & Hikaru Ogawa, 2019. "Indirect taxes in a cross-border shopping model: a monopolistic competition approach," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 128(2), pages 147-175, October.
    2. Helmuts Azacis & David R Collie, 2018. "Taxation and the sustainability of collusion: ad valorem versus specific taxes," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 173-188, October.
    3. Zrinka Lukač, 2023. "Optimal tax policy for single homogeneous commodity on n markets with export costs as a Stackelberg game," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 31(3), pages 873-890, September.
    4. Todorova, Tamara & Vatoci, Besar, 2020. "Taxation and strategic reaction: A comparison of Cournot, Stackelberg and collusion," MPRA Paper 106487, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Bognetti, Giuseppe & Santoni, Michele, 2016. "Increasing the substitution elasticity can improve VAT compliance and social welfare," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 293-307.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unit taxes; Ad valorem taxes; Monopolistic competition; Mark-up pricing; H22; D43;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection

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