IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/pubcho/v39y1982i2p277-282.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A limited defense of Pareto optimal redistribution

Author

Listed:
  • J. Giertz

Abstract

Pasour's paper is correct in pointing out that the utility interdependency approach fails to completely explain the pattern of redistribution which exists in society and to set definitive normative standards for what redistribution should be. This clearly does not justify, however, his conclusion that the approach is ‘an empty economic box.’ A half full box is not empty. As suggested here, this approach is particularly valuable in understanding the existence and the form of many transfer schemes which cannot be fully explained by other factors. As a normative guide, this approach suffers from the deficiencies which always arise when there is an attempt to use Pareto optimality as a guide for public policy, i.e., it seldom yields a single definitive outcome which can be designated as the most desirable. With all of its limitations, the use of Pareto optimality as a (limited) guide to redistribution questions is infinitely superior to the approach often used of envoking a social welfare function to deal with such questions. Distribution questions which cannot be resolved using the standard of Pareto optimality are ones for which there are no generally acceptable normative standards for making such decisions. Copyright Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1982

Suggested Citation

  • J. Giertz, 1982. "A limited defense of Pareto optimal redistribution," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 277-282, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:39:y:1982:i:2:p:277-282
    DOI: 10.1007/BF00162119
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/BF00162119
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/BF00162119?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daly, George & Giertz, Fred J, 1972. "Welfare Economics and Welfare Reform," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 131-138, March.
    2. Orr, Larry L, 1976. "Income Transfers as a Public Good: An Application to AFDC," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(3), pages 359-371, June.
    3. E. Pasour, 1981. "Pareto optimality as a guide to income redistribution," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 75-87, January.
    4. J. Fred Giertz & Dennis Sullivan, 1977. "Donor optimization and the food stamp program," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 19-35, March.
    5. J. Giertz & Dennis Sullivan, 1978. "On the political economy of food stamps," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 113-117, January.
    6. Lester C. Thurow, 1971. "The Income Distribution as a Pure Public Good," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 85(2), pages 327-336.
    7. Zeckhauser, Richard J, 1971. "Optimal Mechanisms for Income Transfer," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(3), pages 324-334, June.
    8. Geoffrey Brennan, 1973. "Pareto desirable redistribution: The non-altruistic dimension," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 43-67, March.
    9. Hochman, Harold M & Rodgers, James D, 1969. "Pareto Optimal Redistribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(4), pages 542-557, Part I Se.
    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. E. Pasour, 1983. "A limited defense of Pareto optimal redistribution: Comment," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 451-454, January.
    2. Friedel Bolle, 1991. "On Love and Altruism," Rationality and Society, , vol. 3(2), pages 197-214, April.

    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. Thomas D. Birch, 1987. "Basic Needs: Paternalistic Government Welfare Policy with Distortionary Taxation," Public Finance Review, , vol. 15(3), pages 298-321, July.
    2. Jesse Malkin & Aaron Wildavsky, 1991. "Why the Traditional Distinction between Public and Private Goods Should be Abandoned," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 3(4), pages 355-378, October.
    3. E. Pasour, 1981. "Pareto optimality as a guide to income redistribution," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 75-87, January.
    4. Thomas A. Husted, 1990. "Micro-Based Examination of the Demand for Income-Redistribution Benefits," Public Finance Review, , vol. 18(2), pages 157-181, April.
    5. Alessandro Bucciol & Laura Cavalli & Paolo Pertile & Veronica Polin & Alessandro Sommacal, 2016. "Redistribution at the local level: the case of public childcare in Italy," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 63(4), pages 359-378, December.
    6. James D. Rodgers, 1973. "Distributional Externalities and the Optimal Form of Income Transfers," Public Finance Review, , vol. 1(3), pages 266-299, July.
    7. Vijlbrief, J.A., 1992. "Equity and efficiency in unemployment insurance," Serie Research Memoranda 0014, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    8. William Sander & J. Giertz, 1986. "The political economy of state level welfare benefits," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 209-219, January.
    9. Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2001. "Group Loyalty and the Taste for Redistribution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(3), pages 500-528, June.
    10. John F. Johnston, 1975. "Utility Interdependence and Redistribution: Methodological Implications for Welfare Economics and the Theory of the Public Household," Public Finance Review, , vol. 3(3), pages 195-228, July.
    11. Holger Stichnoth, 2012. "Does immigration weaken natives’ support for the unemployed? Evidence from Germany," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 631-654, June.
    12. Stichnoth, Holger, 2010. "Does immigration weaken natives' support for the welfare state? Evidence from Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 10-008, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Charles Knoeber, 1977. "The demand for government transfers: A look at the recipients," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 39-50, December.
    14. Saving, Jason L., 1999. "Migration, labor-leisure choice, and Pareto suboptimal redistribution," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 559-573, September.
    15. E. Pasour, 1983. "A limited defense of Pareto optimal redistribution: Comment," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 451-454, January.
    16. Blankart, Charles B., 1974. "Grenzen der konstitutionellen Eigentumsgarantie," Discussion Papers, Series I 48, University of Konstanz, Department of Economics.
    17. Dennis Mueller, 1998. "Constitutional Constraints on Governments in a Global Economy," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 171-186, September.
    18. Berthold, Norbert & Neumann, Michael, 2006. "Europas Sozialstaaten im Schatten der Globalisierung," Discussion Paper Series 88, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Chair of Economic Order and Social Policy.
    19. Christian Morrisson & Philippe Cazenave, 1973. "Fonctions d'utilité interdépendantes et théorie de la redistribution en économie de production," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 24(5), pages 725-760.
    20. Friedel Bolle, 1991. "On Love and Altruism," Rationality and Society, , vol. 3(2), pages 197-214, April.

    More about this item

    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:kap:pubcho:v:39:y:1982:i:2:p:277-282. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.