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Inflation and the User Cost of Capital: Does Inflation Still Matter?

In: The Costs and Benefits of Price Stability

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  • Darrel Cohen
  • Kevin Hassett
  • R. Glenn Hubbard

Abstract

In the late 1970s, many economists argued that the deleterious effects of inflation on the user cost of capital for U.S. firms were large. Since that time, the tax code has changed, the level of inflation has dropped significantly, and the of investment has evolved considerably. In this paper, we demonstrate that the net effect of these changes has--under reasonable assumptions--not relegated inflation to the sidelines. Indeed, we conclude that: (1) inflation, even at its relatively low current rates, continues to increase the user cost of capital significantly; (2) the marginal gain in investment in response to a percentage-point reduction in inflation is larger for lower levels of inflation; (3) the beneficial effects for steady-state consumption of lowering inflation even further than has been achieved to date would likely be significant; and (4) inflation has only a small impact on intratemporal distortion in the allocation of capital within the domestic business sector. We also show that the magnitude of the inflation effect on the user cost of capital is likely much smaller in open economies.

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This chapter was published in:

  • Martin Feldstein, 1999. "The Costs and Benefits of Price Stability," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number feld99-1, October.
    This item is provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Chapters with number 7774.

    Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:7774

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    References

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    1. Martin Feldstein, 1982. "Inflation, Tax Rules, and Investment: Some Econometric Evidence," NBER Working Papers 0577, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Devereux, Michael P & Hubbard, R Glenn, 2003. "Taxing Multinationals," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 469-87, August.
    3. Feldstein, Martin S, 1976. "Inflation, Income Taxes, and the Rate of Interest: A Theoretical Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(5), pages 809-20, December.
    4. Martin Feldstein, 1977. "The Welfare Cost of Permanent Inflation and Optimal Short-Run Economic Policy," NBER Working Papers 0201, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Fischer, Stanley, 1981. "Towards an understanding of the costs of inflation: II," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 5-41, January.
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    8. Don Fullerton & Diane Lim Rogers, 1997. "Neglected Effects on the Uses Side: Even a Uniform Tax Would Change Relative Goods Prices," NBER Working Papers 5937, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Sheshinski, Eytan & Feldstein, Martin & Green, Jerry & Auerbach, Alan, 1978. "Inflation and Taxes in a Growing Economy with Debt and Equity Finance," Scholarly Articles 3203645, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    10. Cummins, Jason G. & Hassett, Kevin A. & Hubbard, R. Glenn, 1996. "Tax reforms and investment: A cross-country comparison," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1-2), pages 237-273, October.
    11. Martin Feldstein & Lawrence H. Summers, 1979. "Inflation and the Taxation of Capital Income in the Corporate Sector," NBER Working Papers 0312, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Hartman, David G, 1979. "Taxation and the Effects of Inflation on the Real Capital Stock in an Open Economy," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 20(2), pages 417-25, June.
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    14. Alan J. Auerbach, 1990. "Tax Reform and Adjustment Costs: The Impact on Investment and Market Value," NBER Working Papers 2103, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Jason G. Cummins & R. Glenn Hubbard, 1994. "The Tax Sensitivity of Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Firm-Level Panel Data," NBER Working Papers 4703, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Jason G. Cummins & Kevin A. Hassett & R. Glenn Hubbard, 1994. "A Reconsideration of Investment Behavior Using Tax Reforms as Natural Experiments," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 25(2), pages 1-74.
    17. Darby, Michael R, 1975. "The Financial and Tax Effects of Monetary Policy on Interest Rates," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 13(2), pages 266-76, June.
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    24. Kevin A. Hassett & R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Tax Policy and Investment," NBER Working Papers 5683, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:
    1. Michael R. Pakko & William T. Gavin & Finn E. Kydland, 2004. "Monetary Policy, Taxes, and the Business Cycle," Computing in Economics and Finance 2004 32, Society for Computational Economics.
    2. Eugenio Gaiotti & Andrea Generale, 2001. "Does monetary policy have asymmetric effects? A look at the investment decisions of Italian firms," Working Paper Series 110, European Central Bank.
    3. Pierre Fortin & George A. Akerlof & William T. Dickens & George L. Perry, 2002. "Inflation and Unemployment in the U.S. and Canada: A Common Framework," Cahiers de recherche du Département des sciences économiques, UQAM 20-16, Université du Québec à Montréal, Département des sciences économiques.
    4. Rochelle M. Edge & Jeremy B. Rudd, 2002. "Taxation and the Taylor principle," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2002-51, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. O'Reilly, B., 1998. "The Benefits of Low Inflation: Taking Shock "A nickel ain't worth a dime any more" [Yogi Berra]," Technical Reports 83, Bank of Canada.
    6. Kenji Moriyama, 2008. "Investigating Inflation Dynamics in Sudan," IMF Working Papers 08/189, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Darrel Cohen & Kevin A. Hassett, 1997. "Inflation, taxes, and the durability of capital," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1997-53, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    8. Eduardo Walker, 2002. "The Chilean Experience in Completing Markets with Financial Indexation," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Fernando Lefort & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel & Norman Loayza (Series Editor) & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel (Serie (ed.), Indexation, Inflation and Monetary Policy, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 9, pages 259-294 Central Bank of Chile.

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