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On the provision of impure public goods: A general equilibrium comparison of different social norms
This paper compares some of the most common or debated social systems of public good provision in a unified dynamic general equilibrium framework. We focus on impure public goods and services, namely, publicly provided private goods, like education and health. Our main aim is to answer questions like “who should pay for these goods?” and “who should produce these goods?”. We study and rank a wide range of social systems ranging from state production without user charges, to state production with user charges or to full privatization; we also study mixed systems. In our quest for the best system, we address both efficiency and distribution issues.
