The Optimal Distribution of Income Revisited

The Optimal Distribution of Income Revisited

This paper revisits the optimal distribution of income model in Fair (1971). This model is the same as in Mirrlees (1971) except that education is also a decision variable and tax rates are restricted to lie on a tax function. In the current paper the tax-rate restriction is relaxed. As in Fair (1971), a numerical method is used. The current method uses the DFP algorithm with numeric derivative...

The Optimal Distribution of Income

At the end of their debate with R. H. Str&, F. M. Fisher and J. Rothenberg make a plea for going beyond the Pareto optimality criterion in analyzing issues in welfare eoonomies.l The present study is in the spirit of this plea: an attempt is made in this paper to derive bounds on the optimal distribution of income under a particular set of value judgments. Because of a general reluctance of eco...

On Optimal Non-linear Income Taxation: Numerical Results Revisited

Based on numerical simulations there seems to be a kind of consensus in the optimal tax literature that the marginal tax rate should fall rather than rise with income. Retaining the same formal structure as in Mirrlees (1971) this paper shows that this consensus is sensitive to a choice of the assumed form of utility of consumption. For the utility function quadratic in consumption optimum tax ...

Estimating the Income Elasticities of Health Expenditures for Income Quintiles and Inequality of Health Expenditures Distribution

Background: Determining the income elasticities of the household health expenditures, especially for income deciles, leads to adoption of appropriate policies to control and manage health expenditures among income deciles. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to estimate the income elasticities of urban household health expenditures by income quintiles, and also calculate inequality in...

Financial Development And The Distribution Of Income In MENA