Optimal time-consistent fiscal policy under endogenous growth with elastic labor supply

C-Tier
Journal: Economic Modeling
Year: 2014
Volume: 42
Issue: C
Pages: 398-412

Score contribution per author:

0.335 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We explore the implications of incorporating an elastic labor supply in an endogenous growth economy when characterizing the time-consistent Markov policy. We consider two policy instruments: an income tax rate and the split of government spending between consumption and production services. The Markov-perfect policy implies a higher income tax rate and a larger proportion of government spending allocated to consumption than those chosen under a commitment constraint on the part of the government. As a consequence, economic growth is slightly lower under the Markov-perfect policy than under the Ramsey policy. Under the Markov and Ramsey optimal policies, a higher weight of leisure in households' preferences leads to a lower optimal income tax rate and a lower proportion of public resources devoted to consumption. We also show that the policy bias that would arise when imposing a Markov policy designed ignoring the presence of leisure in the utility function would lead to a significant welfare loss.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:ecmode:v:42:y:2014:i:c:p:398-412
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-26