Abstract
The concept of merit goods was introduced into the literature by Richard Musgrave in 1957. As John Head (1988) remarks one should expect after so many years that the profession has reached an agreement on the usefulness and the content of the concept. This is by no means the case. The concept is as controversial today as it used to be at the time of its invention. Musgrave’s most recent contribution to the debate — which appeared in the New Palgrave in 1987 — leaves the reader just as uneasy and helpless as his very first discussions of the subject did. No wonder that main- stream economists hesitate to acknowledge the usefulness of the concept altogether.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Head, J. G., 1988, Merit Wants, Finanzarchiv N. F. 46, 1– 37
Musgrave, R. A., 1956/57, A Multiple Theory of Budget Determination, Finanzarchiv N. F. 17, 333–343
Musgrave, R. A., 1987, Merit Goods, in: Eatwell, J., Milgate, M., Newman, P. (eds.), The New Palgrave, 451–453
Pazner, E., 1972, Merit Wants and the Theory of Taxation, Public Finance 27, 460–472
Sen, A. K., 1977, On Weights and Mesures, Econometrica 45, 1539–1572
Wenzel, H.-D., Wiegard, W., 1981, Merit Goods and Second- Best Taxation, Public Finance 36, 125–140
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Richter, W.F., Weimann, J. (1994). Merit Goods and Welfarism. In: Eichhorn, W. (eds) Models and Measurement of Welfare and Inequality. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79037-9_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79037-9_19
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-79039-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-79037-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive