The Subsidy as a Purely Normative Concept

Martin Ricketts

Journal of Public Policy, 1985, vol. 5, issue 3, 401-411

Abstract: Although the term ‘subsidy’ is commonly used in the context of social, industrial, and trade policy, there is no general agreement concerning its precise definition. This paper argues that current usage of the term ‘subsidy’ does not permit us to isolate a distinct policy instrument. Instead, subsidies exist when the tax system fails to accord with specified ‘norms’. Thus, the subsidy turns out to be a normative concept and is defined relative to desired ends. Explicit acceptance of the normative character of subsidies might clarify policy disputes by distinguishing between disagreements over ends, and disagreements about technical relationships.

Date: 1985
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/ ... type/journal_article link to article abstract page (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:jnlpup:v:5:y:1985:i:03:p:401-411_00

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Public Policy from Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press, UPH, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kirk Stebbing ().