IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/1679.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Horizontal Equity: Measures in Search of a Principle

Author

Listed:
  • Louis Kaplow

Abstract

Horizontal equity -- the command that equals be treated equally -- has received increased attention, particularly in attempts to measure the desirability of tax reform proposals. This paper questions whether the normative foundations for horizontal equity justify the indexes and approaches that have generally been adopted. It suggests that past attempts to implement horizontal equity are inconsistent with its supposed foundations and that more thorough examination of the concept raises serious doubts as to whether any alternative interpretation of horizontal equity reasonably consistent with common understanding of the concept can be justified.

Suggested Citation

  • Louis Kaplow, 1985. "Horizontal Equity: Measures in Search of a Principle," NBER Working Papers 1679, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:1679
    Note: PE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w1679.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1982. "Utilitarianism and horizontal equity : The case for random taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 1-33, June.
    2. Weiss, Laurence, 1976. "The Desirability of Cheating Incentives and Randomness in the Optimal Income Tax," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(6), pages 1343-1352, December.
    3. Harvey S. Rosen, 1978. "An Approach to the Study of Income, Utility, and Horizontal Equity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 92(2), pages 307-322.
    4. John C. Harsanyi, 1953. "Cardinal Utility in Welfare Economics and in the Theory of Risk-taking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61, pages 434-434.
    5. Feldstein, Martin, 1976. "On the theory of tax reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 77-104.
    6. Mervyn A. King, 1980. "An Index of Inequality: With Applications to Horizontal Equity and Social Mobility," NBER Working Papers 0468, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Plotnick, Robert, 1982. "The concept and measurement of horizontal inequity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 373-391, April.
    8. John C. Harsanyi, 1955. "Cardinal Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63, pages 309-309.
    9. Brennan, Geoffrey, 1971. "Horizontal Equity: An Extension of an Extension," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 26(3), pages 437-456.
    10. King, Mervyn A, 1983. "An Index of Inequality: With Applications to Horizontal Equity and Social Mobility," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(1), pages 99-115, January.
    11. Sen, Amartya, 1973. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198281931.
    12. Walter Hettich, 1979. "A Theory of Partial Tax Reform," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 12(4), pages 692-712, November.
    13. Richard Schmalensee, 1984. "Imperfect Information and the Equitability of Competitive Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 99(3), pages 441-460.
    14. Plotnick, Robert, 1981. "A Measure of Horizontal Inequity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 63(2), pages 283-288, May.
    15. Sen, Amartya K, 1977. "On Weights and Measures: Informational Constraints in Social Welfare Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(7), pages 1539-1572, October.
    16. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Bibi, Sami & Duclos, Jean-Yves, 2007. "Equity and policy effectiveness with imperfect targeting," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 109-140, May.
    2. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Jalbert, Vincent & Araar, Abdelkrim, 2003. "Classical Horizontal Inequity and Reranking: an Integrating Approach," Cahiers de recherche 0306, CIRPEE.
    3. Alan J. Auerbach & Kevin A. Hassett, 2002. "A New Measure of Horizontal Equity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1116-1125, September.
    4. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Jalbert, Vincent & Araar, Abdelkrim, 2000. "Classical Horizontal Inequity and Reranking: an Integrated Approach," Cahiers de recherche 0002, Université Laval - Département d'économique.
    5. Juan Gabriel Rodríguez & Rafael Salas & Irene Perrote, 2005. "Partial Horizontal Inequity Orderings: A Non‐parametric Approach," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 67(3), pages 347-368, June.
    6. Henrik Jordahl & Luca Micheletto, 2005. "Optimal Utilitarian Taxation and Horizontal Equity," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 7(4), pages 681-708, October.
    7. Erlend Bø & Peter Lambert & Thor Thoresen, 2012. "Horizontal inequity under a dual income tax system: principles and measurement," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(5), pages 625-640, October.
    8. Duclos, Jean-Yves & Tabi, Martin, 1999. "Inégalité et redistribution du revenu, avec une application au Canada," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 75(1), pages 95-122, mars-juin.
    9. Jean-Yves Duclos, 2006. "Equity and Equality," Cahiers de recherche 0629, CIRPEE.
    10. Robert Plotnick, 1985. "A Comparison of Measures of Horizontal Inequity," NBER Chapters, in: Horizontal Equity, Uncertainty, and Economic Well-Being, pages 239-268, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Palme, Marten, 1996. "Income distribution effects of the Swedish 1991 tax reform: An analysis of a microsimulation using generalized Kakwani decomposition," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 419-443, August.
    12. Kotaro Suzumura, 2002. "Introduction to social choice and welfare," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 442, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    13. Berliant, Marcus & Strauss, Robert P., 2008. "Distributional analysis of prospective 2009 US individual income taxes: current law and the candidates’ tax plans," MPRA Paper 11221, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Wagstaff, Adam & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 1997. "Progressivity, horizontal equity and reranking in health care finance: a decomposition analysis for the Netherlands," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 499-516, October.
    15. Abdelkrim Araar & Jean-Yves Duclos, 2005. "An Atkinson-Gini Family of Social Evaluation Functions: Theory and Illustration Using Data from the Luxembourg Income Study," LIS Working papers 416, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    16. Luis José Imedio Olmedo & Encarnación Macarena Parrado Gallardo & María Dolores Sarrión Gavilán, 2005. "Horizontal equity, equal progression: an utilitarian approach," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 174(3), pages 87-115, September.
    17. Mitra, Tapan & Ok, Efe A., 1997. "On the Equitability of Progressive Taxation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 316-334, April.
    18. Marcus C. Berliant & Robert P. Strauss, 1993. "State and federal tax equity: Estimates before and after the Tax Reform Act of 1986," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(1), pages 9-43.
    19. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:3:y:2003:i:19:p:1-16 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Herault, Nicolas & Jenkins, Stephen P., 2023. "Redistribution, Horizontal Inequity, and Reranking: Direct Taxation in the UK, 1977–2020," IZA Discussion Papers 16587, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Bleichrodt, Han, 1997. "Health utility indices and equity considerations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 65-91, February.

    More about this item

    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:nbr:nberwo:1679. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    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.