Optimal Redistributive Taxation When Individual Welfare Depends Upon Relative Income

1978/11/01 by Michael J. Boskin, Eytan Sheshinski · 406 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Consumption (sociology) #Econometrics #Economics #Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth #Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics #Income tax #Index (typography) #Microeconomics #Minimax #Optimal tax #Psychology #Public economics #Relative deprivation #Social psychology #Social welfare function #Taxation and Compliance Studies #Welfare

paper · doi:10.2307/1883177

published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics 92(4), 589 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 1978/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

I. Introduction, 589. — II. An optimal negative income tax model, 591. — III. The maximin criterion, 594. — IV. A utilitarian social objective, 597. — V. Conclusion, 598. Our theory … depends upon the validity of a single hypothesis, viz.: that the utility index is a function of relative rather than absolute consumption expenditure. — J. Duesenberry Income, Saving and the Theory of Consumer Behavior

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