When is There a Representative Consumer of Public Goods? - On Separating the Allocation and Distribution Branches of Government

Abstract

The author proposes a theory of when allocation can be separated from income distribution, or equivalently of when there is a r epresentative consumer of public goods. He also proposes the assumption that preferences belong to the class that allows a representative consumer has interesting implications for the theory of social welfare functions, for Lindahl's allocation theory, and for Bowen's majority voting theory.