The Distributional impact of public services when needs differ
| Autor: | Magne Mogstad, Rolf Aaberge, Manudeep Bhuller, Audun Langørgen |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: |
Economics and Econometrics
JEL classification: I30 Social science: 200::Economics: 210 [VDP] Public services Non-cash income media_common.quotation_subject Control (management) Accounting income distribution poverty public services non-cash income needs adjustment equivalence scales Disk formatting Business economics Income distribution Economics Quality (business) Offentlige tjenester Poverty media_common Inntektsfordeling Velferd business.industry jel:D31 jel:H72 jel:I30 Scientific article Work (electrical) Publishing poverty public services non-cash income needs adjustment equivalence scales Fattigdom Equivalence scales business JEL classification: H72 JEL classification: D31 Finance |
| Zdroj: | Journal of public economics |
| Popis: | This is the accepted version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Public Economics. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Public Economics, 94, (9/10), 549-562, (October 2010). Despite a broad consensus on the need to take into account the value of public services in distributional analysis, there is little reliable evidence on how the inclusion of such non-cash income actually affects poverty and inequality estimates. In particular, the equivalence scales applied to cash income are not necessarily appropriate when including noncash income, because the receipt of public services is likely to be associated with particular needs. In this paper, we propose a theory-based framework designed to provide a coherent evaluation of the distributional impact of local public services. The valuation of public services, identification of target groups, allocation of expenditures to target groups, and adjustment for differences in needs are derived from a model of local government spending behaviour. Using Norwegian data from municipal accounts and administrative registers we find that the inclusion of non-cash income reduces income inequality by about 15 percent and poverty rates by almost one-third. However, adjusting for differences in needs for public services across population subgroups offsets about half the inequality reduction and some of the poverty decrease. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|