Being up Front about Income Inequality

Brian Hill ()
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Brian Hill: HEC Paris

No 1362, HEC Research Papers Series from HEC Paris

Abstract: This paper proposes universal provision of information about the income inequality involved in the creation of a good as a means of moderating income inequality. Existing evidence suggests that a section of the population would be willing to pay more for goods whose production involves less excessive income inequality. We show, on a simple model, that supplying inequality information to such a population under competitive markets will in general lead to a reduction in global income inequality. The effect will be stronger the more inequality averse the population. Moreover, the outcome will be socially efficient. Possibilities for (de-centralized) implementation are also discussed.

Keywords: Income inequality; information provision; externalities; inequality aversion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D30 D63 D83 J30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 71 pages
Date: 2020-01-13
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ebg:heccah:1362

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3515349

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