Consider an economy with two goods, consumption c and leisure I, and a representative consumer. The consumer is endowed with 24 hours of time in a day. A consumer's daily leisure hours are equal to 1 = 24-h where h is the number of hours a day the consumer chooses to work. The price of consumption p is equal to 1 and the consumer's hourly wage is w. The consumer faces an ad valorem tax on their earnings of τ percent. The consumer also receives some exogenous income Y that does not depend on how many hours she works (e.g. an inheritance). The consumer's preferences over consumption and hours of work can be represented by the utility function: n'+p 1+ P U(C,h) = c-B where ß> 0 and p > 0 are parameters. a) What is this consumer's budget constraint? b) Solve for the consumer's utility maximizing hours of work h*(w, 1-T) and ( 1

Microeconomic Theory
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Chapter17: Capital And Time
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Problem 17.1P
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Consider an economy with two goods, consumption c and leisure I, and a representative
consumer. The consumer is endowed with 24 hours of time in a day. A consumer's daily
leisure hours are equal to 1 = 24 - h where h is the number of hours a day the consumer
chooses to work. The price of consumption p is equal to 1 and the consumer's hourly
wage is w. The consumer faces an ad valorem tax on their earnings of T percent. The
consumer also receives some exogenous income Y that does not depend on how many
hours she works (e.g. an inheritance). The consumer's preferences over consumption
and hours of work can be represented by the utility function:
U(C,h) = c-B- where ß> 0 and p > 0 are parameters.
‚h¹- P
1+ p
a) What is this consumer's budget constraint?
b) Solve for the consumer's utility maximizing hours of work h*(w, 1-T) and
consumption c* (w, 1 - T, Y).
c) What is the compensated own-price elasticity for the supply of hours of work?
For parts (d) - (h), assume the following: w = $50, Y = $100, ß = 0.5 and p = 2.
(d) Suppose the income tax rate is initially zero (i.e. t = 0). Calculate the consumer's
utility at their utility maximizing consumption and labour supply bundle.
(f) Calculate the change in the consumer's surplus (i.e. utility) following the tax change.
i) Now suppose that p = 1 (instead of p = 2). Re-calculate the excess burden from this
tax. Is your answer different than in part (h)? Explain why or why not in 4 sentences.
(j) Suppose instead that the consumer's utility function was U(c, h) = min(c, -h). Would
the EB from a unit excise tax be larger or smaller compared with the original utility
function. Explain your answer in 4 sentences.
Transcribed Image Text:Consider an economy with two goods, consumption c and leisure I, and a representative consumer. The consumer is endowed with 24 hours of time in a day. A consumer's daily leisure hours are equal to 1 = 24 - h where h is the number of hours a day the consumer chooses to work. The price of consumption p is equal to 1 and the consumer's hourly wage is w. The consumer faces an ad valorem tax on their earnings of T percent. The consumer also receives some exogenous income Y that does not depend on how many hours she works (e.g. an inheritance). The consumer's preferences over consumption and hours of work can be represented by the utility function: U(C,h) = c-B- where ß> 0 and p > 0 are parameters. ‚h¹- P 1+ p a) What is this consumer's budget constraint? b) Solve for the consumer's utility maximizing hours of work h*(w, 1-T) and consumption c* (w, 1 - T, Y). c) What is the compensated own-price elasticity for the supply of hours of work? For parts (d) - (h), assume the following: w = $50, Y = $100, ß = 0.5 and p = 2. (d) Suppose the income tax rate is initially zero (i.e. t = 0). Calculate the consumer's utility at their utility maximizing consumption and labour supply bundle. (f) Calculate the change in the consumer's surplus (i.e. utility) following the tax change. i) Now suppose that p = 1 (instead of p = 2). Re-calculate the excess burden from this tax. Is your answer different than in part (h)? Explain why or why not in 4 sentences. (j) Suppose instead that the consumer's utility function was U(c, h) = min(c, -h). Would the EB from a unit excise tax be larger or smaller compared with the original utility function. Explain your answer in 4 sentences.
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