IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/1338.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Taxation and Pricing of Agricultural and Industrial Goods

Author

Listed:
  • Raaj Kumar Sah
  • Joseph E. Stiglitz

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of price reform and of optimal pricing and taxation of agricultural and industrial goods in modern-day LDCs. Our analysis is based on a general equilibrium paradigm with a multitude of goods and income groups. It is consistent with several alternative institutional structures with in the agricultural and the industrial sectors, as well as with alternative hypotheses concerning unemployment and migration of labor across the two sectors.This approach differs substantially from the standard tax literature with regard to the structure of the economy and the set of admissible taxes.The rules of price reform which we derive are quite simple to implement, requiring only the knowledge of observable parameters such as price elasticities of demand and supply. The determination of optimal prices (and taxes) requires, in addition, the relative welfare weights on individuals' incomes and on investment. We show that it is desirable, ingeneral, to levy import and export taxes. Among new results are those presenting conditions under which all of the goods belonging to certain categories (such as all purchased agricultural inputs or all agricultural outputs which are not consumed) should be either taxed or stibsidized.

Suggested Citation

  • Raaj Kumar Sah & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1984. "Taxation and Pricing of Agricultural and Industrial Goods," NBER Working Papers 1338, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:1338
    Note: PE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w1338.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Atkinson, A. B. & Stiglitz, J. E., 1976. "The design of tax structure: Direct versus indirect taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 55-75.
    2. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-142, March.
    3. Newbery, David, 1974. "The Robustness of Equilibrium Analysis in the Dual Economy," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 32-41, March.
    4. Dixit, Avinash K., 1969. "Marketable surplus and dual development," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 203-219, August.
    5. Dixit, Avinash, 1971. "Short-run Equilibrium and Shadow Prices in the Dual Economy," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(3), pages 384-400, November.
    6. Newbery, David M G, 1972. "Public Policy in the Dual Economy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 82(326), pages 567-590, June.
    7. J. A. Mirrlees, 1972. "On Producer Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 39(1), pages 105-111.
    8. Feldstein, Martin S, 1972. "Distributional Equity and the Optimal Structure of Public Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 32-36, March.
    9. Diamond, Peter A & Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production: I--Production Efficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 8-27, March.
    10. Mirrless, J. A., 1975. "Optimal commodity taxation in a two-class economy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 27-33, February.
    11. Newbery, David M, 1989. "The Theory of Food Price Stabilisation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(398), pages 1065-1082, December.
    12. Dixit, Avinash & Stern, Nicholas, 1974. "Determinants of Shadow Prices in Open Dual Economies," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 42-53, March.
    13. Diamond, Peter A & Mirrlees, James A, 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production II: Tax Rules," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(3), pages 261-278, June.
    14. Feldstein, Martin S, 1977. "The Surprising Incidence of a Tax on Pure Rent: A New Answer to an Old Question," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(2), pages 349-360, April.
    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. Wiebelt, Manfred & Herrmann, Roland & Schenck, Patricia & Thiele, Rainer, 1992. "Discrimination against agriculture in developing countries?," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 458, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Stiglitz, J.E., 1985. "Economics of information and the theory of economic development," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 5(1), 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. Sah, Raaj Kumar & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1985. "The social cost of labor and project evaluation: A general approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 135-163, November.
    2. Jacobs, Bas & van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2019. "Redistribution and pollution taxes with non-linear Engel curves," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 198-226.
    3. Kumhof, Michael & Tideman, Nicolaus & Hudson, Michael & Goodhart, Charles, 2021. "Post-Corona Balanced-Budget Super-Stimulus: The Case for Shifting Taxes onto Land," CEPR Discussion Papers 16652, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. David Madden & Michael Savage, 2020. "Which households matter most? Capturing equity considerations in tax reform via generalised social marginal welfare weights," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(1), pages 153-193, February.
    5. Sushama Murty, "undated". "Lessons from optimal taxation theory for the GST and beyond," Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Discussion Papers 17-07, Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
    6. Rick Van der Ploeg & Bas Jacobs, 2017. "Should pollution taxes be targeted at income redistribution?," OxCarre Working Papers 191, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
    7. Jacobs, Bas & de Mooij, Ruud A., 2015. "Pigou meets Mirrlees: On the irrelevance of tax distortions for the second-best Pigouvian tax," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 90-108.
    8. Odd E. Nygård & John T. Revesz, 2015. "Optimal indirect taxation and the uniformity debate: A review of theoretical results and empirical contributions," Discussion Papers 809, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    9. Bas Jacobs, 2018. "The marginal cost of public funds is one at the optimal tax system," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(4), pages 883-912, August.
    10. Nawaz, Nasreen, 2017. "An Optimal Quantity Tax Path in a Dynamic Setting," MPRA Paper 114275, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Börjesson, Maria & Asplund, Disa & Hamilton, Carl, 2021. "Optimal kilometre tax for electric passenger cars," Working Papers 2021:3, Swedish National Road & Transport Research Institute (VTI).
    12. Donald Bruce & William Fox & Matthew Murray, 2003. "To Tax Or Not To Tax? The Case Of Electronic Commerce," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 21(1), pages 25-40, January.
    13. Åsa Johansson, 2016. "Public Finance, Economic Growth and Inequality: A Survey of the Evidence," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1346, OECD Publishing.
    14. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/56k383m9o9kpb1g6f8rvv74ok is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2018. "Pareto efficient taxation and expenditures: Pre- and re-distribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 101-119.
    16. Martin Hellwig, 2004. "Optimal Income Taxation, Public-Goods Provision and Public-Sector Pricing: A Contribution to the Foundations of Public Economics," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2004_14, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    17. Morten Nyborg Støstad & Frank Cowell, 2021. "Inequality as an Externality: Consequences for Tax Design," PSE Working Papers halshs-03495989, HAL.
    18. Lee, David & Saez, Emmanuel, 2012. "Optimal minimum wage policy in competitive labor markets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 739-749.
    19. Brian Chi-ang Lin & Siqi Zheng & Yunmin Chen & Brian Chi-ang Lin & John E. Anderson, 2016. "Environmental Sustainability And The Greened Samuelson Rule," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 482-496, July.
    20. Wolfram Richter & Kerstin Schneider, 2001. "Taxing Mobile Capital with Labor Market Imperfections," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 8(3), pages 245-262, May.
    21. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Violeta Vulovic & Yongzheng Liu, 2011. "Direct versus Indirect Taxation: Trends, Theory, and Economic Significance," Chapters, in: Emilio Albi & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), The Elgar Guide to Tax Systems, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    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:nbr:nberwo:1338. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    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.