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Public Goods in Open Economies with Heterogeneous Individuals

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  • Joseph E. Stiglitz

Abstract

This paper formulates a simple model of "perfect community competition." It is shown that (1) the equilibrium is Pareto optimal; (2) communities will, in general, be heterogeneous; not all individuals will have the same tastes; but (3) all individuals of a given skill within the community will have identical preferences; (4) in spite of the heterogeneity of tastes, there is complete unanimity with respect to tax and expenditure policy, and there is no scope for redistribution at the local level; (5) under certain circumstances, everyone's expected utility can be increased by introducing a particular kind of unequal treatment of individuals who are otherwise identical with respect to tastes and production characteristics; (6) when there is not "perfect community competition, " the equilibrium will, in general, not be Pareto optimal, and benefit taxation may be desirable.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1981. "Public Goods in Open Economies with Heterogeneous Individuals," NBER Working Papers 0802, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0802
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Groves, Theodore & Ledyard, John O, 1977. "Optimal Allocation of Public Goods: A Solution to the "Free Rider" Problem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(4), pages 783-809, May.
    2. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1982. "Utilitarianism and horizontal equity : The case for random taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 1-33, June.
    3. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1977. "The Theory of Local Public Goods," International Economic Association Series, in: Martin S. Feldstein & Robert P. Inman (ed.), The Economics of Public Services, chapter 12, pages 274-333, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Kramer, Gerald H, 1973. "On a Class of Equilibrium Conditions for Majority Rule," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(2), pages 285-297, March.
    5. Arnott, Richard J & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1981. "Aggregate Land Rents and Aggregate Transport Costs," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 91(362), pages 331-347, June.
    6. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1982. "The Theory of Local Public Goods Twenty-Five Years After Tiebout: A Perspective," NBER Working Papers 0954, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Berglas, Eitan, 1976. "Distribution of tastes and skills and the provision of local public goods," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 409-423, November.
    8. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    9. Richard J. Arnott & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1979. "Aggregate Land Rents, Expenditure on Public Goods, and Optimal City Size," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(4), pages 471-500.
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    Cited by:

    1. Frankel, David M., 1998. "A Pecuniary Reason for Income Mixing," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 158-169, July.
    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. de Bartolome, Charles A. M. & Rosenthal, Stuart S., 1997. "Opposites Attract: The Effect of the Federal Income Tax Code on Community Composition," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 18-41, July.
    4. de Bartolome, Charles A. M. & Ross, Stephen L., 2003. "Equilibria with local governments and commuting: income sorting vs income mixing," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 1-20, July.
    5. Aaronson, Daniel, 2001. "Neighborhood Dynamics," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 1-31, January.

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