Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/73106 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
Diskussionsbeitrag No. 510
Publisher: 
Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Hannover
Abstract: 
This paper shows that public provision of private goods may be justified on pure efficiency grounds in an environment where individuals have relative consumption concerns. By providing private goods, governments directly intervene in the consumption structure, thereby having an instrument to correct for the excessive consumption of positional goods. We identify sufficient conditions where public provision of private goods is always part of the optimal policy mix, even when consumption taxes are available. In fact, with public provision of private goods, there are cases where the first-best allocation can be achieved, and (linear) consumption taxes can be redundant.
Subjects: 
Public Provision
Social Preferences
Status
Optimal Taxation
JEL: 
H42
D62
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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