Productive public expenditure and imperfect competition with endogenous price markup

Abstract

This paper incorporates the productivity role of government expenditure into the imperfectly competitive macroeconomic model and re-examines the important findings on the fiscal multiplier proposed by Dixon (1987), Mankiw (1988), and Startz (1989). Generally speaking, we find that the classical results of imperfect competition models should be modified when the productivity role of government expenditure is taken into account. The short-run fiscal multiplier may be positive or negative, depending crucially upon whether the public infrastructure and the private input are technical substitutes or complements for each other. The short-run fiscal multiplier does not necessarily exceed the corresponding long-run multiplier. If public expenditure and private inputs are technically substitutes, the long-run fiscal multiplier may exceed the short-run fiscal multiplier. Additionally, in the long-term analysis, the dynamics of entry is investigated. In response to a change in government policy, the novel transitions of output and entry provide us with important policy implications. Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.