Political Economy

This book seeks to extend economic analysis to problems involving voting and the political process. The authors deal with two types of problems: one involving taxation and redistribution, the other involving information, credibility, and the costs of democracy. An introductory essay first describes the approach and its broader implications. The subsequent analysis treats voters' decisions in the polling place as similar to their decisions in the market place--they maximize subject to constraints. In determining the level of taxation and redistribution, voters consider the benefits and costs they bear. These include the loss of incentives as taxes increase and the gain in consumption as redistribution increases. The authors use this model to explain why redistribution is often in-kind instead of the type of negative income tax often favored by economists, why progressive taxes are found in many countries, and why the degree of progressivity varies across states and countries.