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Unit versus Ad Valorem Taxes in Multiproduct Cournot Oligopoly

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  • Lapan, Harvey E.
  • Hennessy, David A.

Abstract

The welfare dominance of ad valorem taxes over unit taxes in a single-market Cournot oligopoly is well known. This article extends the analysis to multimarket oligopoly. Provided all ad valorem taxes are equal and positive, unit costs are constant, firms are active in all considered markets, and a representative consumer has convex preferences, ad valorem taxes are shown to dominate in multiproduct equilibrium. Conditions exist, however, under which economic efficiency declines upon replacing specific taxes with ad valorem taxes that preserve output levels. We discuss the roles of unit cost covariances across multiproduct firms, and also of complementarity in demand, in determining the extent of cost efficiencies arising under ad valorem taxation. For goods that are complementary or independent in demand, conditions are found such that industry profits decline upon use of ad valorem taxes.

Suggested Citation

  • Lapan, Harvey E. & Hennessy, David A., 2011. "Unit versus Ad Valorem Taxes in Multiproduct Cournot Oligopoly," ISU General Staff Papers 201102010800001087, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:201102010800001087
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    Cited by:

    1. Qidi Zhang & Leonard F.S. Wang & Yapo Yang, 2020. "Indirect taxation with shadow cost of public funds in mixed oligopoly," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 415-425, April.
    2. Laszlo Goerke & Frederik Herzberg & Thorsten Upmann, 2014. "Failure of ad valorem and specific tax equivalence under uncertainty," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 10(4), pages 387-402, December.
    3. Henrik Vetter, 2014. "Ad Valorem versus Unit Taxes in Oligopoly and Endogenous Market Conduct," Public Finance Review, , vol. 42(4), pages 532-551, July.
    4. Amarjyoti Mahanta, 2023. "Ad valorem tax versus tax per unit of output in a Bertrand competition with strictly increasing marginal cost," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 105-117, June.
    5. Henrik Vetter, 2016. "Tax Reform in Monopolistic Competition with Increasing Preferences for Variety," Public Finance Review, , vol. 44(2), pages 245-262, March.
    6. 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.
    7. Wang, Leonard F.S. & Zeng, Chenhang & Zhang, Qidi, 2019. "Indirect taxation and undesirable competition," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 104-106.
    8. Subhadip Chakrabarti & Robert P. Gilles & Emiliya Lazarova, 2021. "Stability of cartels in Multimarket Cournot oligopolies," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 89(1), pages 70-85, January.
    9. Xingtang Wang & Leonard F. S. Wang, 2022. "Indirect taxation, quality choice, and social welfare," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 1764-1772, September.
    10. Laszlo Goerke, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 21(2), pages 310-331, April.
    11. Aiura, Hiroshi & Ogawa, Hikaru, 2013. "Unit tax versus ad valorem tax: A tax competition model with cross-border shopping," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 30-38.
    12. Shiou-Yen Chu & Tsaur-Chin Wu, 2023. "Ad valorem versus unit taxes on capital in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(6), pages 1435-1456, December.
    13. Hong Hwang & Chao-Cheng Mai & Ya-Po Yang, 2015. "Specific vs Ad Valorem Strategic Export Subsidies with Taxation Distortion," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 820-828, November.
    14. Takanori ADACHI & Michal Fabinger, 2021. "Pass-Through and the Welfare Effects of Taxation under Imperfect Competition: A General Analysis," Discussion papers e-21-003, Graduate School of Economics , Kyoto University.
    15. Henrik Vetter, 2017. "Commodity taxes and welfare under endogenous market conduct," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 122(2), pages 137-154, October.

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