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The stabilizing role of government size

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Author Info
Javier Andrés (Universidad de Valencia)
Rafael Doménech () (Economic Bureau of the Prime Minister, Spain)
Antonio Fatás () (INSEAD)

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Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of how alternative models of the business cycle can replicate the stylized fact that large governments are associated with less volatile economies. Our analysis shows that adding nominal rigidities and costs of capital adjustment to an otherwise standard RBC model can generate a negative correlation between government size and the volatility of output. However, in the model, we find that the stabilizing effect is only due to a composition effect and it is not present when we look at the volatility of private output. Given that empirically we also observe a negative correlation between government size and the volatility of consumption, we modify the model by introducing rule-of-thumb consumers. In this modified version of our initial model we observe that consumption volatility is also reduced when government size increases in similar way to the observed pattern in OECD economies over the last 45 years.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Banco de España in its series Banco de España Working Papers with number 0710.

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Length: 33 pages
Date of creation: May 2007
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Handle: RePEc:bde:wpaper:0710

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Related research
Keywords: government size output volatility automatic stabilizers

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization

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References listed on IDEAS
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. J.E. Boscá & A. Díaz & R. Doménech & J. Ferri & E. Pérez & L. Puch, 2007. "A Rational Expectations Model for Simulation and Policy Evaluation of the Spanish Economy," Working Papers 0706, International Economics Institute, University of Valencia. [Downloadable!]
  2. Agustín Maravall & Ana del Río, 2007. "Temporal aggregation, systematic sampling, and the Hodrick-Prescott filter," Banco de España Working Papers 0728, Banco de España. [Downloadable!]
  3. Jerome Creel & Francesco Saraceno, 2008. "Automatic Stabilisation, Discretionary Policy and the Stability Pac," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2008-15, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE). [Downloadable!]
  4. Serena Lamartina & Andrea Zaghini, 2008. "Increasing Public Expenditures: Wagner’s Law in OECD Countries," CFS Working Paper Series 2008/13, Center for Financial Studies. [Downloadable!]
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