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The public and private provision of pure public goods and the distortionary effects of income taxation: a political economy approach

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  • Jun-ichi Itaya
  • A.G. Schweinberger

Abstract

A pure public good is provided by the government and the voluntary contributions of two types of households. The government finances its contribution by means of income taxation. The latter has distortionary effects. A third type of household never makes contributions. We analyse the effects of changes in the income tax rate on (a) the provision of the public good, (b) the private contributions of the households, and (c) changes in the distribution of income and welfare between contributing and non-contributing households. We derive a simple and testable condition under which the lowering of the income tax entails a Pareto improvement.

Suggested Citation

  • Jun-ichi Itaya & A.G. Schweinberger, 2006. "The public and private provision of pure public goods and the distortionary effects of income taxation: a political economy approach," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 39(3), pages 1023-1040, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:39:y:2006:i:3:p:1023-1040
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    Cited by:

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    2. Arbel, Yuval & Bar-El, Ronen & Schwarz, Mordechai E. & Tobol, Yossef, 2014. "Voluntary Contributions to the Establishment and Operation of Public Goods: Theory and Experimental Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 8532, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. OGURO Kazumasa & ISHIDA Ryo & YASUOKA Masaya, 2018. "Voluntary Provision of Public Goods and Cryptocurrency," Discussion papers 18081, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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