Premium
Winners and losers of the COVID‐19 pandemic: An excess profits tax proposal
Author(s) -
Azémar Céline,
Desbordes Rodolphe,
MelindiGhidi Paolo,
Nicolaï JeanPhilippe
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of public economic theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.809
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1467-9779
pISSN - 1097-3923
DOI - 10.1111/jpet.12589
Subject(s) - economics , pandemic , covid-19 , imperfect competition , toll , competition (biology) , subsidy , microeconomics , monetary economics , market economy , virology , biology , medicine , disease , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , ecology , pathology , genetics
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.