The Benefits of In-Kind Government Programs
Robert M. Schwab ,
2
( 27 )
Journal of Public Economics
195-210
July
1985
Abstract

In this paper I present a methodology to calculate the benefits of in-kind programs such as public housing which restrict consumption of some goods to the levels offered by the government. Most previous studies begin with an a priori specification of the direct utility function. I begin with the ordinary demand function and then integrate demand to recover the indirect utility function and the expenditure function. I argue that this approach gives additional flexibility in choosing a functional form which best describes the data.

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