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The Art of Making Everybody Happy: How to Prevent a Secession

Author

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  • Michel Le Breton

    (International Monetary Fund)

  • Shlomo Weber

    (International Monetary Fund)

Abstract

In this paper we examine compensation schemes that prevent a threat of secession by any of a country's regions. We prove that, under quite general assumptions on the distribution of citizens' preferences, there exist transfer schemes that are secession-proof. Moreover, we show that these compensation schemes entail a degree of partial equalization among regions: the gap between advantaged regions and disadvantaged regions has to be reduced but it should never be completely eliminated. We demonstrate that in the case of a uniform distribution of the nation's citizens, the secession-proof conditions generate the 50 percent compensation rule for disadvantaged regions. Copyright 2003, International Monetary Fund

Suggested Citation

  • Michel Le Breton & Shlomo Weber, 2003. "The Art of Making Everybody Happy: How to Prevent a Secession," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 50(3), pages 1-4.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:imfstp:v:50:y:2003:i:3:p:4
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    JEL classification:

    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects

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