Multiple Equilibria in the Welfare State

Abstract

Excess distortions in the welfare state might be the consequence of the government's lack of ability to commit not to help "unlucky" agents. Incentive considerations that are crucial in standard insurance in the presence of moral hazard, plays no role in this case. As a consequence, the government might provide too much insurance. Still, equilibria with incomplete insurance and above-minimum effort might arise. Two possible reasons for multiple equilibria are explored in the paper, namely that marginal utility of consumption is positively associated with effort and that economic policy is costly. It is shown that the equilibria can be Pareto rankable. Borrowing analytical tools from recent developments in dynamic games (Matsui and Matsuyama, 1995), stability conditions of different equilibria are analyzed.