Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 48

MODERN AGE

FALL 2015

taxation and public expenditures, including modern cost-benefit
analysis.
Although he did not use the modern words, Bentham wrote
his utilitarian analyses under the assumption that the marginal
utility of income is declining.8 This view starts with the plausible
proposition that a dollar more or less makes a lot less difference
to the rich person than does a dollar more or less to the person
who has very few dollars. The extra dollar that allows the beggar
to buy a crust of bread increases his welfare (or happiness or utility) more than a decrease of a dollar would decrease the utility of
Warren Buffet. Decreasing marginal utility is usually assumed in
economics for most ordinary goods and services. You may value
one bag of carrots or professional tooth cleaning, but the second
one that month is worth less to you and the third even less than
that. But is that true for income in general?
Most economists ceased to ask that question after the "Marginal Revolution" of 1870. At about the same moment, William
Stanley Jevons (1835-1882), writing in English, Leon Walras (1834-
1910), writing in French, and Carl Menger (1840-1921), writing in
German, adopted a form of analysis that a cynic described as "the
reinvention of a crude form of differential calculus a couple of
centuries after Newton and Leibniz." Nevertheless, this "marginal
analysis" soon came to dominate economics and made the concept of decreasing marginal utility of income almost automatic
for economists. If we assume that successive units of income have
less value, and we assume that everyone is equal with respect to
capacity to enjoy income, then the tax implications can be quite
dramatic.
If the objective is to collect the required tax revenue while
imposing the minimum total sacrifice on society, the appropriate
48



Modern Age - Fall 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Modern Age - Fall 2015

Table of Contents
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - Table of Contents
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - Cover2
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 1
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 2
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 3
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 4
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 5
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 6
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 7
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 8
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 9
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 10
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 11
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 12
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 13
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 14
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 15
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 16
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 17
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 18
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 19
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 20
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 21
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 22
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 23
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 24
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 25
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 26
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 27
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 28
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 29
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 30
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 31
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 32
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 33
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 34
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 35
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 36
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 37
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 38
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 39
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 40
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 41
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 42
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 43
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 44
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 45
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 46
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 47
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 48
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 49
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 50
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 51
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 52
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 53
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 54
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 55
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 56
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 57
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 58
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 59
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 60
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 61
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 62
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 63
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 64
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 65
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 66
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 67
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 68
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 69
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 70
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 71
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 72
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 73
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 74
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 75
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 76
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 77
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 78
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 79
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 80
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 81
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 82
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 83
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 84
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 85
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 86
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 87
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 88
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 89
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 90
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 91
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 92
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 93
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 94
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 95
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 96
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 97
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 98
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 99
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 100
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 101
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 102
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 103
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 104
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 105
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 106
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 107
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 108
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 109
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 110
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 111
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 112
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 113
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 114
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 115
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 116
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 117
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 118
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 119
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 120
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 121
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 122
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 123
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 124
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 125
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 126
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 127
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 128
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 129
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 130
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 131
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 132
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 133
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 134
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 135
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 136
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 137
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 138
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 139
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 140
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 141
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 142
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 143
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 144
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 145
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 146
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 147
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 148
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 149
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 150
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 151
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 152
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 153
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 154
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 155
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - 156
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - Cover3
Modern Age - Fall 2015 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2018winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2015fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2014fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2014summer
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com