IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/ifwkwp/918.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Intergenerational redistribution with asymmetric information: The case of non-observable savings

Author

Listed:
  • Lorz, Jens Oliver

Abstract

This paper analyzes intergenerational redistribution in a 2-period overlapping- generations model that allows for heterogeneous labor productivities within the working generation. In each period, the government decides about redistributive transfers to maximize the aggregate utility of the members of both generations. There is asymmetric information between the government and the private sector: The government can only observe labor incomes but not individual labor supply or individual productivities. In addition, individual savings and capital incomes are not observable for the government. It is shown that the political economy equilibrium is not Pareto-efficient. Redistribution results in equal consumption levels of individuals with different labor productivities. This destroys incentives for individuals with a high labor productivity to earn a higher labor income than individuals with a low labor productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorz, Jens Oliver, 1999. "Intergenerational redistribution with asymmetric information: The case of non-observable savings," Kiel Working Papers 918, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:918
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/46780/1/268909547.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Breyer, Friedrich, 1994. "The political economy of intergenerational redistribution," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 61-84, May.
    2. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1987. "Pareto efficient and optimal taxation and the new new welfare economics," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 15, pages 991-1042, Elsevier.
    3. Meijdam, Lex & Verbon, Harrie A A, 1996. "Aging and Political Decision Making on Public Pensions," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 9(2), pages 141-158, May.
    4. van de Ven, M.E.A.J., 1996. "Intergenerational redistribution in representative democracies," Other publications TiSEM 56c7d0bd-d4a1-4a29-be8b-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1982. "Self-selection and Pareto efficient taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 213-240, March.
    6. Hori, Hajime, 1997. "Dynamic Allocation in an Altruistic Overlapping Generations Economy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 292-315, April.
    7. Verbon, Harrie, 1993. "Public Pensions: The Role of Public Choice and Expectations," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 6(2), pages 123-135, May.
    8. Lorz, Jens Oliver, 1999. "The political economy of intra- and intergenerational redistribution with asymmetric information," Kiel Working Papers 904, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lorz, Jens Oliver, 1999. "Social security and redistribution within generations in an overlapping generations model," Kiel Working Papers 957, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    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. Lorz, Jens Oliver, 1999. "Social security and redistribution within generations in an overlapping generations model," Kiel Working Papers 957, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Lorz, Jens Oliver, 1999. "The political economy of intra- and intergenerational redistribution with asymmetric information," Kiel Working Papers 904, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    3. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2002. "New perspectives on public finance: recent achievements and future challenges," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 341-360, December.
    4. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2018. "Pareto efficient taxation and expenditures: Pre- and re-distribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 101-119.
    5. George A. Waters, 2018. "Utilitarian preference for redistribution: a concern with max-min," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 42(2), pages 386-396, April.
    6. Robin Boadway & Nicolas Marceau & Motohiro Sato, 1997. "An Agency Model of Welfare and Disability Assistance," Cahiers de recherche CREFE / CREFE Working Papers 46, CREFE, Université du Québec à Montréal.
    7. Thomas Aronsson & Olof Johansson‐Stenman & Tomas Sjögren, 2019. "Social Comparisons and Optimal Taxation in a Small Open Economy," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(4), pages 1500-1532, October.
    8. Mathias Hungerbühler & Etienne Lehmann & Alexis Parmentier & Bruno Van Der Linden, 2006. "Optimal Redistributive Taxation in a Search Equilibrium Model," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(3), pages 743-767.
    9. Maria Racionero, 2000. "Optimal Redistribution with Unobservable Preferences for an Observable Merit Good," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 7(4), pages 479-501, August.
    10. Robin Boadway, 1998. "The Mirrlees Approach to the Theory of Economic Policy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 5(1), pages 67-81, February.
    11. Roland Iwan Luttens & Erwin Ooghe, 2007. "Is it Fair to ‘Make Work Pay’?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(296), pages 599-626, November.
    12. Darío Maldonado, 2007. "The design of optimal education policies when individuals differ in inherited wealth and ability," Revista ESPE - Ensayos sobre Política Económica, Banco de la Republica de Colombia, vol. 25(55), pages 84-108, December.
    13. Slemrod, Joel & Yitzhaki, Shlomo & Mayshar, Joram & Lundholm, Michael, 1994. "The optimal two-bracket linear income tax," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 269-290, February.
    14. Felix J. Bierbrauer & Pierre C. Boyer & Emanuel Hansen, 2023. "Pareto‐Improving Tax Reforms and the Earned Income Tax Credit," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(3), pages 1077-1103, May.
    15. 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.
    16. Pedro Cardoso & Bernard M.S. van Praag, 2003. "How Sustainable Are Old-age Pensions in a Shrinking Population with Endogenous Labour Supply?," CESifo Working Paper Series 861, CESifo.
    17. 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.
    18. Pirttila, Jukka & Tuomala, Matti, 2001. "On optimal non-linear taxation and public good provision in an overlapping generations economy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 485-501, March.
    19. Cremer, Helmuth & Pestieau, Pierre, 2001. "Non-linear taxation of bequests, equal sharing rules and the tradeoff between intra- and inter-family inequalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 35-53, January.
    20. Felix Bierbrauer, 2005. "Optimal Income Taxation and Public Good Provision in a Two-Class Economy," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2005_25, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Overlapping generations; redistribution; political economy; asymmetric information;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

    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:zbw:ifwkwp:918. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwkiede.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.