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Income Redistribution in an Economic Union: The Trade Off Between Inter- and Intra-National Redistribution

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  • Helmuth Cremer

    (GREMAQ and IDEI, Université de Toulouse and Institut Universitaire de France)

  • Pierre Pestieau

    (GREMAQ and IDEI, Université de Toulouse and Institut Universitaire de France)

Abstract

This paper studies the design of redistributive policies between and within the member countries of an economic union. There are two types of countries, which differ in their proportion of high income individuals. Both the supra-national and the national governments attempt to redistribute income within their respective boundaries. However, the central government cannot observe an individual country’s ability to pay; it only observes the aggregate (internal) redistributive effort of each country. We derive the optimal incentive compatible tax-transfer policy of the central government and show that there is a tradeoff between inter- and intra-national redistribution. Specifically, to reduce informational rents of the rich countries, the optimal policy induces a distortion in the poor countries’ (internal) redistributive policies. Interestingly, both insufficient as well as excessive redistribution can arise.

Suggested Citation

  • Helmuth Cremer & Pierre Pestieau, 1997. "Income Redistribution in an Economic Union: The Trade Off Between Inter- and Intra-National Redistribution," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 4(3), pages 325-335, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:4:y:1997:i:3:d:10.1023_a:1008668405593
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1008668405593
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    1. Bucovetsky, S. & Marchand, M. & Pestieau, P., 1998. "Tax Competition and Revelation of Preferences for Public Expenditure," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 367-390, November.
    2. Horst Raff & John Wilson, 1997. "Income Redistribution with Well-Informed Local Governments," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 4(4), pages 407-427, November.
    3. Helmuth Cremer & Maurice Marchand & Pierre Pestieau, 1996. "Interregional redistribution through tax surcharge," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 3(2), pages 157-173, May.
    4. Massimo Bordignon & Paolo Manasse & Guido Tabellini, 2001. "Optimal Regional Redistribution under Asymmetric Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(3), pages 709-723, June.
    5. Gilbert, Guy & Picard, Pierre, 1996. "Incentives and optimal size of local jurisdictions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 19-41, January.
    6. Cremer, Helmuth & Pestieau, Pierre, 1996. "Distributive implications of European integration," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 747-757, April.
    7. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1982. "Self-selection and Pareto efficient taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 213-240, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. GRECO, Luciano, 2003. "Optimal grants under asymmetric information: federalism versus devolution," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2003024, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    2. Cornes, Richard C. & Silva, Emilson C. D., 2000. "Local Public Goods, Risk Sharing, and Private Information in Federal Systems," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 39-60, January.
    3. Kolmar, Martin, 2002. "Income redistribution in an economic union: Does asymmetric information legitimize centralization?," Discussion Papers, Series I 317, University of Konstanz, Department of Economics.
    4. Martin Kolmar, 2002. "An Analysis of Institutional Change in the European Union with an Application to Social Policy," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 282, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. Darong Dai & Weige Huang & Liqun Liu & Guoqiang Tian, 2022. "Optimal Regional Insurance Provision: Do Federal Transfers Complement Local Debt?," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 35-80, September.
    6. Beramendi, Pablo, 2003. "Political institutions and income inequality: The case of decentralization," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Institutions, States, Markets SP II 2003-09, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    7. Martin Besfamille & Jean-Marie Lozachmeur, 2010. "NIMBY and mechanism design under different constitutional constraints," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 17(2), pages 114-132, April.
    8. Feld, Lars P, 2000. "Tax Competition and Income Redistribution: An Empirical Analysis for Switzerland," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 105(1-2), pages 125-164, October.
    9. Pestieau, Pierre, 1996. "Politique sociale, redistribution et intégration économique," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 72(3), pages 275-289, septembre.
    10. Konrad, Kai A. & Seitz, Helmut, 2001. "Fiscal federalism and risk sharing in Germany: the role of size differences [Risikokonsolidierung im Rahmen des deutschen Länderfinanzausgleichs: die Rolle von Größenunterschieden]," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Processes and Governance FS IV 01-20, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    11. Cremer, Helmuth & Pestieau, Pierre, 2002. "Factor Mobility and Redistribution: A Survey," IDEI Working Papers 154, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised 2003.
    12. Kolmar, Martin, 1999. "Optimale Ansiedlung sozialpolitischer Entscheidungskompetenzen in der Europäischen Union," Beiträge zur Finanzwissenschaft, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, edition 1, volume 7, number urn:isbn:9783161471254, May.
    13. Darong Dai & Guoqiang Tian & Liqun Liu, 2019. "Optimal Regional Insurance Provision under Privately Observable Shocks," 2019 Meeting Papers 448, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    14. Darong Dai & Guoqiang Tian, 2023. "Optimal interregional redistribution and local budget rules with multidimensional heterogeneity," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 27(1), pages 79-124, February.
    15. Horst Raff & John Wilson, 1997. "Income Redistribution with Well-Informed Local Governments," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 4(4), pages 407-427, November.
    16. Martin Kolmar, 2003. "An Analysis of Institutional Change in the European Union," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 303-326, November.
    17. Sören Blomquist & Luca Micheletto, 2009. "Nonlinear Income Taxation And Matching Grants In A Federation With Decentralized In-Kind Transfers," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 50(2), pages 543-575, May.

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