Optimal Democratic Mechanisms for Taxation and Public Good Provision

Publication Type  Preprints
Author  Felix Bierbrauer, Marco Sahm
Year of Publication  2008
Issue  2008/09
Abstract  e study the interdependence of optimal tax and expenditure policies. An optimal policy requires that information on preferences is made available. We first study this problem from a general mechanism design perspective and show that efficiency is possible only if the individuals who decide on public good provision face an own incentive scheme that differs from the tax system. We then study democratic mechanisms with the property that tax payers vote over public goods. Under such a mechanism, efficiency cannot be reached and welfare from public good provision declines as the inequality between rich and poor individuals increases.
Publisher  Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods
Place Published  Bonn
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Keywords  Two-dimensional Heterogeneity, Public Goods, Optimal Taxation, asymmetric information
JEL-Codes  D71, D82, H41, D72