Analyzing the case for government intervention in a representative democracy

Besley, Timothy ORCID: 0000-0002-8923-6372 and Coate, Stephen (1997) Analyzing the case for government intervention in a representative democracy. Theoretical Economics; TE/1997/335 (TE/07/335). Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, London, UK.

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Abstract

The welfare economic method for analyzing the case for government intervention is often critized for ignoring the political determination of policies. The standard method of accounting for this critique studies the case for intervention under the constraint that the level of the instrument in question will be politically determined. We critize this method for its implicit assumption that new interventions will not affect the level of existing policy instruments. We argue that this assumption is particularly misleading in suggesting that political economy concerns must dampen the case for intervention.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk
Additional Information:	© 1997 by the authors
Divisions:	Economics STICERD
Subjects:	J Political Science > JC Political theory H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
JEL classification:	H - Public Economics > H1 - Structure and Scope of Government > H10 - General D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D72 - Economic Models of Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior H - Public Economics > H4 - Publicly Provided Goods > H41 - Public Goods
Date Deposited:	27 Apr 2007
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2024 18:23
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/2113

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