IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/oxecpp/v64y2012i2p237-258.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tax structure, growth, and welfare in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Konstantinos Angelopoulos
  • James Malley
  • Apostolis Philippopoulos

Abstract

This paper studies the quantitative implications of changes in the composition of taxes for long-run growth and welfare in the UK economy. Our results suggest that if the goal of tax policy is to promote long-run growth by altering relative tax rates in a budget neutral fashion, then it should reduce labour taxes and increase capital and-or consumption taxes. In contrast, if the aim is to promote welfare, substantial gains can be obtained from tax reforms that decrease the capital tax rate relative to the labour and consumption tax rates or that reduce labour relative to consumption taxes. These findings highlight the importance of the choice of tax structure in policy design. Copyright 2012 Oxford University Press 2011 All rights reserved, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Konstantinos Angelopoulos & James Malley & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2012. "Tax structure, growth, and welfare in the UK," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(2), pages 237-258, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:64:y:2012:i:2:p:237-258
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpr035
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stokey, Nancy L & Rebelo, Sergio, 1995. "Growth Effects of Flat-Rate Taxes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(3), pages 519-550, June.
    2. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    3. Blankenau, William, 2005. "Public schooling, college subsidies and growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 487-507, March.
    4. Schmitt-Grohe, Stephanie & Uribe, Martin, 2007. "Optimal simple and implementable monetary and fiscal rules," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 1702-1725, September.
    5. Benhabib Jess & Perli Roberto, 1994. "Uniqueness and Indeterminacy: On the Dynamics of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 113-142, June.
    6. European Commission, 2013. "Taxation trends in the European Union: 2013 edition," Taxation trends 2013, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    7. Finn E. Kydland, 1993. "Business cycles and aggregate labor-market fluctuations," Working Papers (Old Series) 9312, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    8. Robert E. Lipsey & Helen Stone Tice, 1989. "The Measurement of Saving, Investment, and Wealth," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number lips89-1, March.
    9. King, Robert G. & Rebelo, Sergio T., 1999. "Resuscitating real business cycles," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 14, pages 927-1007, Elsevier.
    10. Konstantinos Angelopoulos & Jim Malley & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2007. "Public Education Expenditure, Growth and Welfare," Working Papers 2007_09, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    11. Dale W. Jorgenson & Barbara M. Fraumeni, 1992. "The Output of the Education Sector," NBER Chapters, in: Output Measurement in the Service Sectors, pages 303-341, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Christiano, Lawrence J & Eichenbaum, Martin, 1992. "Current Real-Business-Cycle Theories and Aggregate Labor-Market Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 430-450, June.
    13. Auerbach, Alan J., 2006. "Tax Reform in the 21st Century," Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics, Working Paper Series qt444479wh, Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics.
    14. Malley, Jim & Philippopoulos, Apostolis & Woitek, Ulrich, 2007. "Electoral uncertainty, fiscal policy and macroeconomic fluctuations," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 1051-1080, March.
    15. European Commission, 2007. "Taxation trends in the European Union: 2007 edition," Taxation trends 2007, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    16. Connolly, Michelle, 2004. "Human Capital and Growth in the Postbellum South: A Separate but Unequal Story," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(2), pages 363-399, June.
    17. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1990. "Supply-Side Economics: An Analytical Review," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(2), pages 293-316, April.
    18. Cooley, Thomas F. & Hansen, Gary D., 1992. "Tax distortions in a neoclassical monetary economy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 290-316, December.
    19. McGrattan, Ellen R., 1994. "The macroeconomic effects of distortionary taxation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 573-601, June.
    20. Costas Azariadis & Allan Drazen, 1990. "Threshold Externalities in Economic Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(2), pages 501-526.
    21. Schmitt-Grohe, Stephanie & Uribe, Martin, 2004. "Solving dynamic general equilibrium models using a second-order approximation to the policy function," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 755-775, January.
    22. Baxter, Marianne & King, Robert G, 1993. "Fiscal Policy in General Equilibrium," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(3), pages 315-334, June.
    23. Jorgenson, Dale W & Fraumeni, Barbara M, 1992. " Investment in Education and U.S. Economic Growth," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(0), pages 51-70, Supplemen.
    24. Julio J. Rotemberg & Michael Woodford, 1997. "An Optimization-Based Econometric Framework for the Evaluation of Monetary Policy," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1997, Volume 12, pages 297-361, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Angelopoulos, Konstantinos & Economides, George & Kammas, Pantelis, 2007. "Tax-spending policies and economic growth: Theoretical predictions and evidence from the OECD," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 885-902, December.
    26. Tamura, Robert, 1991. "Income Convergence in an Endogenous Growth Model," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 522-540, June.
    27. European Commission, 1998. "Structures of the taxation systems in the European Union 1970-1996," Taxation trends 1998, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    28. Baier, Scott L. & Glomm, Gerhard, 2001. "Long-run growth and welfare effects of public policies with distortionary taxation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 25(12), pages 2007-2042, December.
    29. Mendoza, Enrique G. & Milesi-Ferretti, Gian Maria & Asea, Patrick, 1997. "On the ineffectiveness of tax policy in altering long-run growth: Harberger's superneutrality conjecture," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 99-126, October.
    30. Chamley, Christophe, 1986. "Optimal Taxation of Capital Income in General Equilibrium with Infinite Lives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 607-622, May.
    31. Glomm, Gerhard & Ravikumar, B, 1992. "Public versus Private Investment in Human Capital Endogenous Growth and Income Inequality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(4), pages 818-834, August.
    32. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hatcher, Michael, 2014. "Indexed versus nominal government debt under inflation and price-level targeting," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 126-145.
    2. CPB Netherlands & CAPP, 2013. "Study on the Impacts of Fiscal Devaluation," Taxation Papers 36, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    3. Hassan Molana & Catia Montagna & George E. Onwordi, 2021. "De-Globalization, Welfare State Reforms and Labor Market Outcomes," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 69(4), pages 624-655, December.
    4. Angelopoulos, Konstantinos & Fernandez, Bernardo X. & Malley, James R., 2010. "The Distributional Consequences of Supply-Side Reforms in General Equilibrium," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-85, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    5. George Economides & Apostolis Philippopoulos & Stylianos Sakkas, 2021. "Redistributive policies in general equilibrium," JRC Working Papers on Territorial Modelling and Analysis 2021-08, Joint Research Centre.
    6. Michael, Hatcher, 2013. "Aggregate and welfare effects of long run inflation risk under inflation and price-level targeting," SIRE Discussion Papers 2013-19, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    7. George Economides & Dimitris Papageorgiou & Apostolis Philippopoulos & Vanghelis Vassilatos, 2013. "Smaller Public Sectors in the Euro Area: Aggregate and Distributional Implications," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 59(3), pages 536-558, September.
    8. James Malley & Apostolis Philippopoulos & Jim Malley, 2023. "Stimulating Long-Term Growth and Welfare in the U.S," CESifo Working Paper Series 10658, CESifo.
    9. Dimitris Papageorgiou, 2009. "Macroeconomic Implications of Alternative Tax Regimes: The Case of Greece," Working Papers 97, Bank of Greece.
    10. Ioannis Bournakis & Sushanta Mallick & David Kernohan & Dimitris A.Tsouknidis, 2013. "Measuring Firm-Level Productivity Convergence in the UK: The Role of Taxation and R&D Investment," Working Papers 45, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    11. Angelopoulos, Konstantinos & Jiang, Wei & Malley, James R., 2013. "Tax reforms under market distortions in product and labour markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 28-42.
    12. Chia-Hui Lu, 2015. "Optimal fiscal policies in an economy with externalities from public spending," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 116(3), pages 211-228, November.
    13. Economides, George & Philippopoulos, Apostolis & Vassilatos, Vanghelis, 2014. "Public, or private, providers of public goods? A dynamic general equilibrium study," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 303-327.
    14. Durusu-Ciftci, Dilek & Gokmenoglu, Korhan K. & Yetkiner, Hakan, 2018. "The heterogeneous impact of taxation on economic development: New insights from a panel cointegration approach," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 503-513.
    15. Sorana Vatavu & Oana-Ramona Lobont & Petru Stefea & Daniel Brindescu-Olariu, 2019. "How Taxes Relate to Potential Welfare Gain and Appreciable Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-16, July.
    16. Mura Petru-Ovidiu, 2015. "Tax Composition And Economic Growth. A Panel-Model Approach For Eastern Europe," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1, pages 89-101, February.
    17. Papageorgiou, Dimitris, 2012. "Fiscal policy reforms in general equilibrium: The case of Greece," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 504-522.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Konstantinos Angelopoulos & Jim Malley & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2008. "Welfare implications of public education spending rules," Working Papers 2008_37, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    2. Konstantinos Angelopoulos & Jim Malley & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2007. "Public Education Expenditure, Growth and Welfare," CESifo Working Paper Series 2037, CESifo.
    3. Angelopoulos, Konstantinos & Malley, Jim & Philippopoulos, Apostolis, 2011. "The welfare implications of resource allocation policies under uncertainty: The case of public education spending," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 176-192, June.
    4. Dimitris Papageorgiou, 2009. "Macroeconomic Implications of Alternative Tax Regimes: The Case of Greece," Working Papers 97, Bank of Greece.
    5. Trabandt, Mathias & Uhlig, Harald, 2011. "The Laffer curve revisited," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 305-327.
    6. Zeng, Jinli & Zhang, Jie, 2022. "Education policies and development with threshold human capital externalities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    7. Mathias Trabandt & Harald Uhlig, 2006. "How Far Are We From The Slippery Slope? The Laffer Curve Revisited," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2006-023, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
    8. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2013. "Fiscal policy in a Real-Business-Cycle model with labor-intensive government services and endogenous public sector wages and hours," EconStor Preprints 142338, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    9. Papageorgiou, Dimitris, 2012. "Fiscal policy reforms in general equilibrium: The case of Greece," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 504-522.
    10. Jim Malley & Ulrich Woitek, 2009. "Productivity shocks and aggregate cycles in an estimated endogenous growth model," IEW - Working Papers 416, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    11. Strulik, Holger & Trimborn, Timo, 2010. "Anticipated tax reforms and temporary tax cuts: A general equilibrium analysis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 2141-2158, October.
    12. Pelloni, Alessandra & Waldmann, Robert, 2000. "Can waste improve welfare?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 45-79, July.
    13. Jim Malley & Ulrich Woitek, 2011. "Productivity Shocks and Aggregate Fluctuations in an Estimated Endogenous Growth Model with Human Capital," CESifo Working Paper Series 3567, CESifo.
    14. Jones, Larry E. & Manuelli, Rodolfo E., 1997. "The sources of growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 75-114, January.
    15. Malley, Jim & Philippopoulos, Apostolis & Woitek, Ulrich, 2007. "Electoral uncertainty, fiscal policy and macroeconomic fluctuations," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 1051-1080, March.
    16. Canton, E.J.F., 1997. "Economic growth and business cycles," Other publications TiSEM 7b903e18-d700-44d6-a7c0-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    17. Chakraborty, Bidisha & Gupta, Manash Ranjan, 2009. "Human capital, inequality, endogenous growth and educational subsidy: A theoretical analysis," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 77-90, June.
    18. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2013. "Essays on Real Business Cycle Modeling and the Public Sector," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 130522, July.
    19. Etro, Federico, 2017. "Research in economics and macroeconomics," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 373-383.
    20. Canton, Erik, 2001. "Fiscal policy in a stochastic model of endogenous growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 19-47, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:64:y:2012:i:2:p:237-258. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/oep .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.