Welfare economics relies on consequentialism even though many philosophers have questioned this assumption. Survey evidence, based on a representative sample in Sweden, is presented here suggesting that most people’s ethical perceptions are consistent with consequentialism.

This paper concerns optimal taxation and public goods in an economic federation with decentralized leadership, where one lower level government is the first mover also in the horizontal dimension. Under plausible assumptions, horizontal leadership reinforces the incentives created by...

This paper concerns optimal taxation and outsourcing. If the government has a direct instrument for taxing outsourcing, the policy rules for marginal income taxation remain as in the standard model. Otherwise, outsourcing contributes to a more progressive income tax structure.

This paper concerns the policy implications of a potential self-control problem underlying the consumption of unhealthy food. Our results show that subsidies on wealth and health capital can be used to implement a socially optimal resource allocation.