Lack of information about technology and prices often hampers the empirical assessment of the validity of the profit maximization hypothesis. We show that the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology comprises natural tools for dealing with such incomplete information. In...

To take into account heterogeneity in a social welfare function, Ebert (1997) and Shorrocks (1995) show that the only consistent way of welfare measurement consists of either constructing an artificial distribution in which each household is weighted by the number of equivalent individuals, or...

In this paper, an empirical evaluation is presented of two competing flexible labour supply models. The first is a standard unitary model, while the second is based on the collective approach to household behaviour. The evaluation focuses on the testing of the models' theoretical implications,...

The literature on non-parametric production analysis has formulated tests for profit maximizing behavior that do not require a parametric specification of technology. Negative test results have conventionally been interpreted as inefficiency, or have been attributed to data perturbations. In...

Besley (1988) is one of the few exceptional articles containing non-welfarist optimal tax devices. Feehan(1990) reports an error in his first-best rules. The present note criticizes the fundamentals of Besley's second-best rules. These rules optimize the welfare or well-being of phantom agents...

This paper explores a couple of specific operational interpretations of Sen's approach in view of assessing the extent to which the results originated by the implementation of Sen's concepts are influenced by the choice of the specific technique. By means of a survey based on a representative...

We provide a dual perspective on technical efficiency evaluation, in two respects. First, we build on the price assumptions implicitly associated with the notion of technical efficiency in a general equilibrium framework to characterize a set of appropriate references to be used in the technical...

In the traditional approach to consumer behaviour it is assumed that households behave as if they were single decision making units. This approach has methodological, empirical and welfare economic deficiencies. A valuable alternative to the traditional model is the collective approach to...

The axiomatic literature on technical efficiency measurement has drawn attention to the indication problem of the Debreu-Farrell (DF) measure. We follow a shadow price approach to preserve the DF benchmark while reconciling it with the Koopmans efficiency characterization. First, we define a set...

Between 1988 and 1993 the Belgian personal income tax system and the indirect tax system have been reformed to a considerable extent. We use microsimulation models to investigate the impact of the reform on the liability progression and the redistributive effect of the combined tax system. The...