Winners and losers of the COVID‐19 pandemic: An excess profits tax proposal

In this paper, we study the gains and losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. We distinguish between the effects of the pandemic and those of the health measures implemented to reduce the death toll, notably "the lockdown." Our theoretical model is focused on within-sector firm heter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of public economic theory Vol. 24; no. 5; pp. 1016 - 1038
Main Authors Azémar, Céline, Desbordes, Rodolphe, Melindi-Ghidi, Paolo, Nicolaï, Jean‐philippe
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Wiley 01.10.2022
Subjects
Economics and Finance
Human health and pathology
Humanities and Social Sciences
Life Sciences
Pandemic Covid-19
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Summary:In this paper, we study the gains and losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. We distinguish between the effects of the pandemic and those of the health measures implemented to reduce the death toll, notably "the lockdown." Our theoretical model is focused on within-sector firm heterogeneity and involves imperfect competition in a partial equilibrium setting. A comparison between the gains and losses triggered by both the pandemic and the lockdown indicates that an excess profits tax imposed on the "winners" could partly compensate the "losers" of the same sector.
ISSN:1097-3923
1467-9779
DOI:10.1111/jpet.12589