Distributional weights in cost-benefit analysis - Should we forget about them?

Land Economics

Volumn 81, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 337-352

  Johansson Stenman, Olof ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG   (Sweden)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS; TAX SYSTEM;

EID: 24744457965     PISSN: 00237639     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3368/le.81.3.337     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. Alpizar, F., F. Carlsson, and O. Johansson-Stenman. 2005. "How Much Do People Care About Absolute versus Relative Income and Consumption?" Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 56 (3): 405-21.
2. Atkinson, A. B., and J. E. Stiglitz. 1980. Lectures in Public Economics. New York: McGraw Hill.
3. Blanchard, O., and S. Fischer. 1989. Lectures on Macroeconomics. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
4. Boadway, R., and M. Keen. 1993. "Public Goods, Self-Selection and Optimal Income Taxation." International Economic Review 34 (3): 463-78.
5. Brekke, K.-A., and R. Howarth. 2002. Status, Growth and the Environment. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar.
6. Bromley, D. 1990. "The Ideology of Efficiency: Searching for a Theory of Policy Analysis." Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 19 (1): 86-107.
7. Bromley, D. 2004. "Reconsidering Environmental Policy: Prescriptive Consequentialism and Volitional Pragmatism. Environmental and Resource Economics 28 (1): 73-99.
8. Christiansen, V. 1981. "Evaluation of Public Projects under Optimal Taxation." Review of Economic Studies 48 (3): 447-57.
9. Christiansen, V., and E. Jansen. 1978. "Implicit Social Preferences in the Norwegian System of Indirect Taxation." Journal of Public Economics 10 (2): 217-45.
10. Dahlby, B. 1998. "Progressive Taxation and the Social Marginal Cost of Public Funds." Journal of Public Economics 67 (1): 105-22.
11. Dasgupta, P. 1998. "Population, Consumption and Resources: Ethical Issues." Ecological Economics 24 (2-3): 139-52.
12. Dasgupta, P., S. Marglin, and A. Sen. 1972. Guidelines for Project Evaluation. Vienna: United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
13. Diamond, P. A. 1975. "A Many-Person Ramsey Tax Rule." Journal of Public Economics 4 (4): 335-42.
14. Diamond, P. A., and J. A. Mirrlees. 1971. "Optimal Taxation and Public Production II: Tax Rules." American Economic Review 61 (3): 261-78.
15. Dréze, J. P. 1998. "Distribution Matters in Cost-Benefit Analysis: Comment on K.-A. Brekke." Journal of Public Economics 70 (3): 485-88.
16. Dréze, J. P., and N. Stern. 1987. "The Theory of Cost-Benefit Analysis." In Handbook of Public Economics 2, ed. A. J. Auerbach and M. Feldstein, 909-90. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
17. Feldstein, M. S. 1972. "Distributional Equity and the Optimal Structure of Public Prices." American Economic Review 62 (4): 32-36.
18. Frank, R. H. 2000. "Why Is Cost-Benefit Analysis So Controversial?" Journal of Legal Studies 29 (2): 913-30.
19. Frank, R. H., and B. Bernanke. 2001. Principles of Economics. New York: McGraw-Hill.
20. Freeman, A. M. 2003. The Measurements of Environmental and Resource Values. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future.
21. Goldman, S. M., and H. Uzawa. 1964. "A Note on Separability in Demand Analysis." Econometrica 32 (3): 387-98.
22. H. M. Treasury. 2003. The Green Book. Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government. London.
23. Hanley, N., J. Shogren, and B. White. 1997. Environmental Economics in Theory and Practice. London: Macmillan.
24. Harberger, A. C. 1978. "On the Use of Distributional Weights in Social Cost-Benefit Analysis." Journal of Political Economy 86 (2): S87-S120.
25. Harberger, A. C. 1984. "Basic Needs Versus Distributional Weights in Social Cost-Benefit Analysis." Economic Development and Cultural Change 32 (3): 455-74.
26. Hylland, A., and R. Zeckhauser. 1979. "Distributional Objectives Should Affect Taxes but Not Program Choice or Design." Scandinavian Journal of Economics 81 (2): 264-84.
27. Johansson-Stenman, O. 1998. "On the Problematic Link between Fundamental Ethics and Economic Policy Recommendations." Journal of Economic Methodology 5 (2): 263-97.
28. Johansson-Stenman, O., F. Carlsson, and D. Daruvala. 2002. "Measuring Future Grandparents' Preferences for Equality and Relative Standing." Economic Journal 112 (479): 362-83.
29. Kaplow, L. 1996. "The Optimal Supply of Public Goods and the Distortionary Cost of Taxation." National Tax Journal 49 (4): 513-33.
30. Kaplow, L. 2004. "On the (Ir)Relevance of Distribution and Labor Supply Distortion to Government Policy." Journal of Economic Perspectives 18 (4): 159-75.
31. Kaplow, L., and S. Shavell., 1994. "Why the Legal System Is Less Efficient Than the Income Tax in Redistributing Income." Journal of Legal Studies 23 (2): 667-81.
32. Kaplow, L., and S. Shavell., 2000. "Should Legal Rules Favor the Poor? Clarifying the Role of Legal Rules and the Income Tax in Redistributing Income." Journal of Legal Studies 29 (2): 821-35.
33. Little, I. M. D., and J. A. Mirrlees. 1974. Project Appraisal and Planning for Developing Countries. London: Heinemann.
34. Little, I. M. D., and J. A. Mirrlees. 1991. "Project Appraisal and Planning Twenty Years On." In Proceedings of the World Bank Annual Conference on Development Economics 1990. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
35. Marshall, A. 1885. The Present Position of Economics. London: Macmillan.
36. Medin, H., K. Nyborg, and I. Bateman. 2001. "The Assumption of Equal Marginal Utility of Income: How Much Does it Matter?" Ecological Economics 36 (3): 397-411.
37. Miller, T. R. 2000. "Variations Between Countries in Values of Statistical Life." Journal of Transport Economics and Policy 34 (2): 169-88.
38. Mirrlees, J. A. 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation." Review of Economic Studies 38 (2): 175-208.
39. Ng, Y.-K. 2000a. "The Optimal Size of Public Spending and the Distortionary Cost of Taxation." National Tax Journal 53 (2): 253-72.
40. Ng, Y.-K. 2000b. Efficiency, Equality and Public Policy - With a Case for Higher Public Spending. Basingstoke, U.K.: Macmillan.
41. Samuelson, P. A. 1954. "The Pure Theory of Public Expenditure." Review of Economics and Statistics 36 (4): 387-89.
42. Sanchirico, C. W. 2000. "Taxes Versus Legal Rules as Instruments for Equity: A More Equitable View." Journal of Legal Studies 29 (2): 797-820.
43. Sanchirico, C. W. 2001. "Deconstructing the New Efficiency Rationale." Cornell Law Review 86 (5): 1003-89.
44. Sandmo, A. 1998. "Redistribution and the Marginal Cost of Public Funds." Journal of Public Economics 70 (3): 365-82.
45. Sen, A. K. 1987. On Ethics and Economics. Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell.
46. Shavell, S. 1981. "A Note on Efficiency vs. Distributional Equity in Legal Rulemaking: Should Distributional Equity Matter Given Optimal Income Taxation?" American Economic Review (Papers and proceedings) 71 (2): 414-18.
47. Slemrod, J., and S. Yitzhaki. 2001. "Integrating Expenditure and Tax Decisions: The Marginal Cost of Funds and the Marginal Benefit of Projects." National Tax Journal 54 (2): 189-201.
48. Squire, L., and H. van der Tak. 1975. Economic Analysis of Projects. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
49. Starret, D. A. 1988. Foundations of Public Economics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
50. Sunstein, C. R. 2004. "Are Poor People Worth Less Than Rich People? Disaggregating the Value of Statistical Lives." Olin working paper no. 207, University of Chicago Law School.
51. Usher, D. 2001. "Personal Goods, Efficiency and the Law." European Journal of Political Economy 17 (4): 673-703.
52. Yitzhaki, S. 2003. "Cost-Benefit Analysis and Distributional Consequences of Government Projects." National Tax Journal 56 (2): 319-25.