Improving Consumer Welfare and Manufacturer Profit via Government Subsidy Programs: Subsidizing Consumers or Manufacturers?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Yu, Jiayi Joey; Tang, Christopher S.; Shen, Zuo-Jun Max
• 署名单位: Tsinghua University; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: M&SOM-MANUFACTURING & SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1523-4614
• DOI: 10.1287/msom.2017.0684
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 752-766
• 关键词: developing economies; government subsidies; Economic development; social welfare

摘要

Most consumers in rural areas of many developing countries cannot afford to purchase certain livelihood improvement products such as home appliances. To improve consumer welfare and manufacturer profit, many governments launch different types of subsidy programs that offer subsidies to consumers, manufacturers, or both. Motivated by a subsidy program developed by the Chinese government in 2007, we present a parsimonious model to determine the optimal subsidy program in different settings so as to gain a better understanding about the conditions under which it is optimal for the government to subsidize consumers only, manufacturers only, or both. Our analysis reveals that the structure of the optimal subsidy program depends on (a) whether there is a well-established market selling price for the products; and (b) the relative emphasis that the government places on consumer welfare versus manufacturer profit. Also, we find that governments can improve consumer welfare by developing subsidy programs that involve multiple (competing) manufacturers with different market sizes and adequate capacities. Our findings provide insights for developing effective government subsidy programs.