Is it possible to redistribute the gains from trade using income taxation?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Spector, D
• 署名单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-1996(01)00098-8
• 发表日期: 2001
• 页码: 441-460
• 关键词: Gains from trade; redistribution; income taxation

摘要

How does international trade affect income redistribution? We consider a country where the government uses a non-linear income tax to maximize some redistributive social welfare function, subject to the constraint that it can observe only individual incomes but not individual characteristics. In autarky, the government can partially equalize equilibrium prices and wages by manipulating quantities through the tax system. If borders are open, prices are determined by world markets and the government is deprived of this possibility. It may therefore be unable to redistribute the gains from trade: opening borders may decrease welfare even after the optimal policy adjustment. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.