Home >> FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Volume 61, Number 1

Public Versus Private Production Decisions: Redistribution and the Size of the Public Sector

Authors: Pirttilä, Jukka; Tuomala, Matti

Source: FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Volume 61, Number 1, March 2005 , pp. 120-137(18)

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

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Abstract:

We analyze the decision rules governing public employment policy, capital allocation between private and public sector, and the size of the public sector in a two-type and two-sector optimal nonlinear income-tax model with endogenous wages. The government can reduce wage inequality in the private sector by employing more unskilled workers and fewer skilled workers than is necessary to minimize cost at the prevailing gross wage rate and, if skilled labor and capital are complementary, by favoring public-sector capital accumulation. Therefore, production efficiency holds neither in public employment decision nor in capital allocation. The effects of public employment and investment on income inequality increase when the size of the public sector increases. The optimal size of the public sector is also shown to be relatively large when public employment and investments reduce wage inequality. These results help explain the growth in the public-sector size and why a larger government does not necessarily hamper growth.

Keywords: PUBLIC PRODUCTION; REDISTRIBUTION; NONLINEAR TAXATION; PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY; THE SIZE OF THE GOVERNMENT

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2005-03-01

More about this publication?
  • FinanzArchiv founded in 1884 is one of the world's oldest professional journals in public finance.

    FinanzArchiv publishes original work from all fields of public economics which are of interest to an international readership, e.g. taxation, public debt, public goods, public choice, federalism, market failure, social policy, and the welfare state. Special emphasis is on high-quality theoretical and empirical papers on current policy issues.

    FinanzArchiv is a well-established, internationally oriented journal in the field of public economics, widely read in Europe and all over the world.

    FinanzArchiv is listed in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI, JCR impact factor 2007 0,296), in Current Contents/Social and Behavioral Sciences, in IDEAS and RePEc (IDEAS/RePEc simple impact factor 2008 1.177), in the Journal of Economic Literature (CD and online), and in the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences.

    FinanzArchiv is a fully peer-reviewed journal committed to a prompt turnaround of submissions. No more than four months should pass between online submission of a manuscript and the editor's decision on acceptance, revision, or rejection.
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