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A dynamic CGE model for jointly accounting ageing population, automation and environmental tax reform. European Union as a case study

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  • Costantini, Valeria
  • Sforna, Giorgia

Abstract

We develop a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model based on the combination of different versions of GTAP utilities where alternative scenarios on ageing population trends are combined with projections on the incidence of automation into production processes and the adoption of unilateral decarbonisation policies. By simultaneously controlling for these different challenges that especially developed countries should face in the next decades, it is possible to disentangle non-linear mechanisms that will influence sustainability of public budget when the three issues are jointly combined. The European Union is taken as a case study. The first result is that ageing trends will impact fiscal sustainability reducing the EU capacity to respect the Stability and Growth Pact parameters. Second, when also considering technical change related to automation and robotics in the production process, fiscal sustainability will improve only in the case of input-neutral technological change. On the contrary, if biased technical change produces unemployment impact, negative impacts of ageing population are reinforced by automation. Third, the adoption of an environmental tax, here modelled in the form of a carbon price, leads to an improvement in environmental sustainability but has non-linear effects of fiscal sustainability.

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  • Costantini, Valeria & Sforna, Giorgia, 2020. "A dynamic CGE model for jointly accounting ageing population, automation and environmental tax reform. European Union as a case study," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 280-306.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:87:y:2020:i:c:p:280-306
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2019.08.004
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ageing population; Automation; Factor productivity; Welfare expenditures; European Union; Fiscal sustainability; Environmental tax reform;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C68 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computable General Equilibrium Models
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • H68 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Forecasts of Budgets, Deficits, and Debt
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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