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Time-Inconsistency and Welfare

Author

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  • Jay Bhattacharya
  • Darius Lakdawalla
Abstract
Self-control devices, such as rehabilitation programs, group commitment, and informal fines, can make time-inconsistent smokers better off. Health economists have used this result to argue in favor of cigarette taxes that restrain smoking. However, taxes alone are not Pareto-improving overall, because they benefit today's smoker at the expense of her future selves, who have less demand for self-control. We suggest an alternative class of taxation policies that provide selfcontrol and benefit a smoker at every point in life. Smokers could be allowed to purchase smoking licenses' when they start to smoke, and in exchange commit their future selves to face compensated cigarette taxes. We show that this scheme which could be made voluntary improves the welfare of current and future smokers, generates positive revenue for the government, and can be made incentive-compatible. Similar schemes can also be envisioned to address problems of timeinconsistency in other contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Jay Bhattacharya & Darius Lakdawalla, 2004. "Time-Inconsistency and Welfare," NBER Working Papers 10345, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10345
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Gannon, Brenda & Layte, Richard & McGregor, Pat & Madden, David & Nolan, Anne & O'Neill, Ciaran & Smith, Samantha, 2007. "The Provision and Use of Health Services, Health Inequalities and Health and Social Gain," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BMI196 edited by Nolan, Brian.
    2. Markus Haavio & Kaisa Kotakorpi, 2012. "Sin Licenses Revisited," CESifo Working Paper Series 4010, CESifo.
    3. B. Douglas Bernheim & Antonio Rangel, 2009. "Beyond Revealed Preference: Choice-Theoretic Foundations for Behavioral Welfare Economics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(1), pages 51-104.
    4. Minwook Kang & Lei Wang, 2019. "Pareto criterion and long-term perspective criterion under myopic discounting," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(1), pages 24-32.
    5. Tyrowicz, Joanna, 2020. "Are incentivized old-age savings schemes effective under incomplete rationality?," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224526, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Eric Rasmusen, 2012. "Internalities and paternalism: applying the compensation criterion to multiple selves across time," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 38(4), pages 601-615, April.
    7. David (David Patrick) Madden, 2007. "Health interventions and risky behaviour," Working Papers 200709, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    8. Ayyagari Padmaja & Sindelar Jody L, 2010. "The Impact of Job Stress on Smoking and Quitting: Evidence from the HRS," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-32, March.
    9. Joanna Tyrowicz & Krzysztof Makarski & Artur Rutkowski, 2020. "Fiscal incentives to pension savings – are they efficient?," Working Paper series 20-06, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    10. Doble, Brett & Ang Jia Ler, Felicia & Finkelstein, Eric A., 2020. "The effect of implicit and explicit taxes on the purchasing of ‘high-in-calorie’ products: A randomized controlled trial," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    11. Heutel, Garth, 2010. "Optimal Policy Instruments for Externality-Producing Durable Goods under Time Inconsistency," UNCG Economics Working Papers 10-5, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.
    12. Markus Haavio & Kaisa Kotakorpi, 2016. "Self-control problems and personalized regulation: Sin licenses revisited," Discussion Papers 112, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    13. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:4:y:2007:i:43:p:1-8 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Bertrand Crettez & Régis Deloche, 2021. "Time-inconsistent preferences and the minimum legal tobacco consuming age," Rationality and Society, , vol. 33(2), pages 176-195, May.
    15. David (David Patrick) Madden, 2007. "Health interventions and risky behaviour," Open Access publications 10197/791, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    16. Juan Carlos Chavez-Martin del Campo, 2007. "Efficiency in the cake-eating problem with quasi-geometric discounting," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 4(43), pages 1-8.
    17. Haavio, Markus & Kotakorpi, Kaisa, 2016. "Sin licenses revisited," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 40-51.
    18. Bhattacharya, Jay & Bundorf, M. Kate, 2009. "The incidence of the healthcare costs of obesity," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 649-658, May.
    19. Marc Fusaro & Richard Ericson, 2010. "The Welfare Economics of “Bounce Protection” Programs," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 55-73, March.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

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