Synopses & Reviews
This book deals with the problems of redistribution if different kinds of taxes are used as instruments. It throws light on the equity, efficiency and insurance aspects of taxation, and treats the topic at a high theoretical level. Using two ordinal equity criteria, it is shown in the first part of the book that equity and efficiency cannot be reconciled in a general model. Even if in a more restricted model equitable states exist, they cannot be implemented using an income tax. Part two of the book scrutinizes the range for redistribution which remains in a first best world if there is imperfect information and only special signals can be observed such as labour supply, income, or both. The range of redistribution for these kinds of taxes is illustrated and compared. In part three, a situation under uncertainty where a tax works as an insurance is investigated. The structure of the optimal tax scheme for several welfare functions is explored. The results with respect to equity and the range of redistribution for different sorts of taxes are of particular interest. The approach to the subject is not really new, since standard microeconomic tools are used. The book's beneficial contribution lies in its presentation of new results with respect to the equity debate and to the incentive compatibility literature.
Synopsis
Redistribution is one of the most fundamental issues in welfare economics. In connection with this term the following questions directly arise: What is a good redistribution ? Which (governmental) instruments should be used to attain it ? Is there a best instrument if several of them are available? Or, to express it more generally, which allocations are at all attainable if special instruments are at hand ? All these questions are formulated in an extremely vague way. It will be the task of the following work to make these questions precise and to give answers - as far as possible. It is a matter of course that these answers will not be exhaustive because redistribution is too wide a field. I have used the word instrument intentionally. In doing so, Iwanted to indicate that it is not necessary to restrict oneself to income - or commodity taxes as is common place in public finance when aiming at redistribution.