Winners and losers of the COVID‐19 pandemic: An excess profits tax proposal

Céline Azémar (1) , Rodolphe Desbordes (2) , Paolo Melindi-Ghidi (3, 4) , Jean‐philippe Nicolaï (5, 6)

1 ESC [Rennes] - ESC Rennes School of Business
2 SKEMA Business School
3 EconomiX - EconomiX
4 AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques
5 GAEL - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée de Grenoble
6 Chaire Energie & Prospérité

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.

Mots clés: Pandemic Covid-19

Domaines: Economies et finances; Médecine humaine et pathologie

Céline Azémar, Rodolphe Desbordes, Paolo Melindi-Ghidi, Jean‐philippe Nicolaï. Winners and losers of the COVID‐19 pandemic: An excess profits tax proposal. Journal of Public Economic Theory, 2022, 24 (5), pp.1016-1038. ⟨10.1111/jpet.12589⟩. ⟨hal-03882313⟩