On the consequences of government objectives for economies with mobile populations

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mansoorian, A; Myers, GM
• 署名单位: University of Waterloo; York University - Canada
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/S0047-2727(96)01587-3
• 发表日期: 1997
• 页码: 265-281
• 关键词: FEDERATION; migration; government objectives

摘要

We compare the efficiency and social welfare properties of equilibria resulting from different governmental objectives in a federal system with a mobile population. The objectives considered are total utility, average utility, representative resident's utility, and profit maximization. The representative resident approach is unique in that it depends only on utility. It yields the best efficient allocation from the perspective of a government's residents. Average utility yields an efficient allocation that non-residents prefer. Both the profit-maximizing and total utility approaches may lead to inefficient allocations. We also show that the representative resident approach is socially preferred to a total utility approach.