Harberger triangle
E475102
The Harberger triangle is an economic concept representing the deadweight loss or efficiency cost created by market distortions such as taxes, price controls, or monopolies, typically illustrated as a triangular area on a supply-and-demand graph.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Harberger triangle canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4856104 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Harberger triangle Context triple: [Arnold Harberger, notableFor, Harberger triangle]
-
A.
Laffer curve
The Laffer curve is an economic theory that illustrates the relationship between tax rates and government revenue, suggesting that beyond a certain point higher tax rates reduce total revenue by discouraging work and investment.
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B.
Pigouvian taxes
Pigouvian taxes are corrective taxes designed to address negative externalities by aligning private costs with social costs, thereby improving overall economic efficiency.
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C.
Hicks–Kaldor compensation criterion
The Hicks–Kaldor compensation criterion is an economic efficiency test stating that a policy change is desirable if those who gain could in principle compensate those who lose and still be better off, regardless of whether compensation actually occurs.
-
D.
Coase theorem
The Coase theorem is an economic theory stating that if property rights are well-defined and transaction costs are negligible, private bargaining will lead to an efficient allocation of resources regardless of the initial assignment of rights.
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E.
Pigouvian subsidy
A Pigouvian subsidy is a government payment designed to encourage activities that generate positive externalities, aligning private incentives with social benefits.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Harberger triangle Target entity description: The Harberger triangle is an economic concept representing the deadweight loss or efficiency cost created by market distortions such as taxes, price controls, or monopolies, typically illustrated as a triangular area on a supply-and-demand graph.
-
A.
Laffer curve
The Laffer curve is an economic theory that illustrates the relationship between tax rates and government revenue, suggesting that beyond a certain point higher tax rates reduce total revenue by discouraging work and investment.
-
B.
Pigouvian taxes
Pigouvian taxes are corrective taxes designed to address negative externalities by aligning private costs with social costs, thereby improving overall economic efficiency.
-
C.
Hicks–Kaldor compensation criterion
The Hicks–Kaldor compensation criterion is an economic efficiency test stating that a policy change is desirable if those who gain could in principle compensate those who lose and still be better off, regardless of whether compensation actually occurs.
-
D.
Coase theorem
The Coase theorem is an economic theory stating that if property rights are well-defined and transaction costs are negligible, private bargaining will lead to an efficient allocation of resources regardless of the initial assignment of rights.
-
E.
Pigouvian subsidy
A Pigouvian subsidy is a government payment designed to encourage activities that generate positive externalities, aligning private incentives with social benefits.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
economic concept
ⓘ
graphical representation ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
market distortions
ⓘ
monopoly ⓘ price controls ⓘ quotas ⓘ subsidies ⓘ tariffs ⓘ taxes ⓘ |
| assumes |
competitive market benchmark
ⓘ
well-behaved supply and demand curves ⓘ |
| componentOf |
cost-benefit analysis of policy
ⓘ
welfare analysis of markets ⓘ |
| contrastsWith | tax revenue rectangle ⓘ |
| dependsOn |
elasticity of demand
ⓘ
elasticity of supply ⓘ |
| field |
public economics
ⓘ
welfare economics ⓘ |
| introducedBy | Arnold Harberger NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| locatedBetween |
demand curve and supply curve
ⓘ
distorted price and equilibrium price ⓘ distorted quantity and efficient quantity ⓘ |
| measures | loss in consumer surplus and producer surplus not recouped as revenue ⓘ |
| namedAfter | Arnold Harberger NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Kaldor-Hicks efficiency
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Marshallian surplus ⓘ marginal excess burden of taxation ⓘ welfare triangle ⓘ |
| represents |
deadweight loss
ⓘ
efficiency cost ⓘ loss of total surplus ⓘ welfare loss from market distortions ⓘ |
| shape | triangle ⓘ |
| timePeriod | 20th century origin ⓘ |
| usedBy | economists ⓘ |
| usedFor |
evaluating policy interventions
ⓘ
illustrating deadweight loss in teaching ⓘ measuring efficiency loss from taxation ⓘ |
| usedIn |
analysis of excess burden of taxation
ⓘ
analysis of monopoly power ⓘ analysis of trade restrictions ⓘ microeconomics textbooks ⓘ |
| visualizedAs | triangular area ⓘ |
| visualizedOn |
price-quantity diagram
ⓘ
supply-and-demand graph ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Harberger triangle Description of subject: The Harberger triangle is an economic concept representing the deadweight loss or efficiency cost created by market distortions such as taxes, price controls, or monopolies, typically illustrated as a triangular area on a supply-and-demand graph.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.