Política tributaria en una economía competitiva

Abstract

The author attempts to develop a somewhat neglected chapter of general equilibrium theory: the effects of tax policy on the behavior of economic agents. The Walrasian general equilibrium model of a competitive economy, in its contemporary formulation, gives the framework, together with the explicit introduction of a government and its tax policy instruments. The interaction between economic agents at an optimal tax structure is analyzed. First the model is presented: the economic agents of the private sector, the government and the tax system. Once the existence of equilibrium prices and quantities of goods and services for a given tax structure is insured, the government's preferences are used to compute the optimal tax structure, from the point of view of resource allocation and income distribution. For the attainment of this optimal economic policy, the model contains the government's own production possibilities, with the corresponding demand for physical resources, including those public goods and services which, due to their special nature, are not easily regulated through the market.