Browsing Research documents by Author "Woodland, Alan D."
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A Tax Optimality IndexRaimondos-Møller, Pascalis; Woodland, Alan D. (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper introduces an index of tax optimality that measures the distance of some current tax structure from the optimal tax structure in the presence of public goods. In doing so, we derive a [0, 1] number that reveals immediately how far the current tax configuration is from the optimal one and, thereby, the degree of efficiency of a tax system. We call this number the Tax Optimality Index. We show how the basic method can be altered in order to derive a revenue equivalent uniform tax, which measures the size of the public sector. A numerical example is used to illustrate the method developed. JEL Code: H21, H41. Keywords: Tax optimality index, excess burden, distance function. Authors Affiliations: Raimondos-Møller: Copenhagen Business School, CEPR, CESifo, and EPRU. Woodland: University of Sydney. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7534 Files in this item: 1
wpec052004.pdf (385.9Kb) -
Raimondos-Møller, Pascalis; Woodland, Alan D. (København, 2004)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper examines the welfare implications of non-discriminatory tariff reforms by a subset of countries, which we term a non-preferential trading club. We show that there exist coordinated tariff reforms, accompanied by appropriate income transfers between the member countries, that unambiguously increase the welfare of these countries while leaving the welfare of non-members unaltered. In terms of economic policy implications, our results show that there exist regional, MFN-consistent arrangements that lead to Pareto improvements in world welfare. JEL code: F15. Keywords: Trading clubs, non-preferential tariff reform, Kemp-Wan-Ohyama proposition. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7540 Files in this item: 1
wpec062004.pdf (262.2Kb) -
Woodland, Alan D.; Raimondos-Møller, Pascalis (København, 2006)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper introduces the concept of a steepest ascent tariff reform for a small open economy. By construction, it is locally optimal in that it yields the highest gain in utility of any feasible tariff reform vector of the same length. Accordingly, it provides a convenient benchmark for the evaluation of the welfare effectiveness of other well known tariff reform rules, as e.g. the proportional and the concertina rules. We develop the properties of this tariff reform, characterize the sources of the potential welfare gains from tariff reform, use it to establish conditions under which some existing reforms are locally optimal, provide geometric illustrations and compare welfare effectiveness of reforms using numerical examples. Moreover, being a general concept, we apply it to the issue of market access and examine its implications. Overall, the paper’s contribution lies in presenting a theoretical concept where the focus is upon the size of welfare gains accruing from tariff reforms rather than simply with the direction of welfare effects that has been the concern of the literature. JEL code: F15. Keywords: Steepest ascent tariff reforms; piecemeal tariff policy; welfare; market access; small open economy. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7565 Files in this item: 1
wp4-2006.pdf (393.9Kb)
Now showing items 1-3 of 3