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Da Bentham alla tassazione ottimale

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  • Ruggero Paladini
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    Abstract

    This paper describes the rebirth of the utilitarian approach, with the social welfare function a là Bentham, after the crisis due to the emergence of the ordinalist microeconomic analysis. It is shown that Vickrey in 1945 had already anticipated the themes developed earlier by Harsanyi and later by Mirrlees. After a description of Mirrlees’s work, the paper discusses the situation in which you can use personalized lump-sum taxes, showing that there are critical consequences. The paper criticizes Mankiw’s thesis against the utilitarian approach, concluding with some policy prescriptions.

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    File URL: http://www.digef.uniroma1.it/sites/default/files/pubblicazioni/economia/research-papers/e-pfrp-n-2.pdf
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    Paper provided by Istituto di Economia e Finanza, DIGEF, Sapienza University of Rome in its series Public Finance Research Papers with number 2.

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    Length: 60 pages
    Date of creation: May 2014
    Handle: RePEc:gfe:pfrp00:0002
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    Keywords: utilitarian welfare function; optimal taxation; personal lump taxes;

    Find related papers by JEL classification:

    • B21 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Microeconomics
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

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