This article reexanunes the Ramsey tax problem using Becker's household-production
approach. It assumes that market-purchased goods and time are used m fixed but
different proportions in generating consumption activities. It derives a generalized
version of Atkinson and Stiglitz's findings regarding the relationship between
optimal tax rates and the structure of preferences (for consumption activities). It
then reexammes their three main results in this regard.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Atkinson, A.B., and N.H. Stem.1974. Pigou, taxation and public goods. Review of Economic Studies41:119-28.
2.
Atkinson, A.B., and J.E. Stiglitz.1972. The structure of indirect taxation and economic efficiency. Journal of Public Economics1:97-119.
3.
—. 1976. The design of tax structure: Direct versus indirect taxation . Journal of Public Economics6:55-75.
4.
—. 1980. Lectures on public economics. New York : McGraw-Hill.
5.
Becker, G.S.1965. A theory of the allocation of time. Economic Journal75.493-517
6.
Diamond, P.A.1975. A many-person Ramsey tax rule. Journal of Public Economics4:335-42.
7.
Mirrlees, J.A.1975. Optimal commodity taxation in a two-class economy . Journal of Public Economics6:27-33.
8.
Wildasin, D.E.1977. Distributional neutrality and optimal commodity taxation . American Economic Review67:889-98.
