IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cde/cdewps/137.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Debt Policy in a Competitive Two-Sector Overlapping Generations Model

Author

Listed:
  • Partha Sen

    (Delhi School of Economics)

Abstract

We analyse debt policy in a two-period, two-sector overlapping generations model with Leontief technologies. We find that debt, issued to transfer resources to the initially old, could be welfare improving in the new steady state for an economy which satisfies the usual conditions for dynamic efficiency viz. the rate of interest is at least as great as the population growth rate. Out of steady state, the only potential losers are the recipients of the transfer. This could happen if the interest rate were to fall sufficiently to offset the effect of the transfer. From generation one onwards everyone becomes better off (under reasonable asumptions). Contrast this with a one-sector model where the definite gainers are those who are alive on date one.

Suggested Citation

  • Partha Sen, 2005. "Debt Policy in a Competitive Two-Sector Overlapping Generations Model," Working papers 137, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cde:cdewps:137
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cdedse.org/pdf/work137.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew B. Abel & N. Gregory Mankiw & Lawrence H. Summers & Richard J. Zeckhauser, 1989. "Assessing Dynamic Efficiency: Theory and Evidence," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(1), pages 1-19.
    2. Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Haslag, Joseph & Russell, Steven, 2005. "The role of money in two alternative models: When is the Friedman rule optimal, and why?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(8), pages 1401-1433, November.
    3. Buiter, Willem H, 1981. "Time Preference and International Lending and Borrowing in an Overlapping-Generations Model," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(4), pages 769-797, August.
    4. Shell, Karl, 1971. "Notes on the Economics of Infinity," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(5), pages 1002-1011, Sept.-Oct.
    5. Galor, Oded, 1992. "A Two-Sector Overlapping-Generations Model: A Global Characterization of the Dynamical System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(6), pages 1351-1386, November.
    6. Persson, Torsten, 1985. "Deficits and intergenerational welfare in open economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1-2), pages 67-84, August.
    7. Svend Erik Hougaard Jensen & Søren Bo Nielsen, 1995. "Population ageing, public debt and sustainable fiscal policy," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 16(2), pages 1-20, May.
    8. Cremers, Emily, 2001. "General Equilibrium with Trade Balance and Real Interest Rate Parity," Staff General Research Papers Archive 34859, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    9. Ihori, Toshihiro, 1978. "The Golden Rule and the Role of Government in a Life Cycle Growth Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(3), pages 389-396, June.
    10. Calvo, Guillermo A., 1978. "On the indeterminacy of interest rates and wages with perfect foresight," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 321-337, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Partha Sen, 2005. "Perfect Competition and the Keynesian Cross:Revisiting Tobin," Working papers 135, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    2. André Mollick, 1999. "Current Account and Fiscal Policy in Japan: 1885–1991," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 185-201, May.
    3. Cremers, Emily T., 2005. "Intergenerational Welfare And Trade," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(5), pages 585-611, November.
    4. Cremers, Emily T., 2006. "Dynamic efficiency in the two-sector overlapping generations model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 1915-1936, November.
    5. Kuhle, Wolfgang, 2012. "Dynamic efficiency and the two-part golden rule with heterogeneous agents," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 992-1006.
    6. Julia, Knolle, 2014. "An Empirical Comparison of Interest and Growth Rates," MPRA Paper 59520, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Obstfeld, Maurice, 1989. "Fiscal deficits and relative prices in a growing world economy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 461-484, May.
    8. Sen, Partha, 2006. "Population growth and steady state welfare in an overlapping generations model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 91(3), pages 325-329, June.
    9. Alberto Martin & Jaume Ventura, 2012. "Economic Growth with Bubbles," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 3033-3058, October.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6dhper3pho8nspmsluhrt4lcd8 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Persson, Torsten & Svensson, Lars E O, 1985. "Current Account Dynamics and the Terms of Trade: Harberger-Laursen-Metzler Two Generations Later," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(1), pages 43-65, February.
    12. Emily T. Cremers & Partha Sen, 2005. "Transfers and the Terms of Trade in an Overlapping Generations Model," Working papers 138, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    13. Aglietta, Michel & Chateau, Jean & Fayolle, Jacky & Juillard, Michel & Le Cacheux, Jacques & Le Garrec, Gilles & Touze, Vincent, 2007. "Pension reforms in Europe: An investigation with a computable OLG world model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 481-505, May.
    14. Édouard Challe, 2004. "Équilibres multiples et volatilité boursière," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 74(1), pages 105-123.
    15. Jean-Pierre Drugeon & Carine Nourry & Alain Venditti, 2006. "Does dynamic efficiency rule out sunspot fluctuations ?," Working Papers halshs-00410787, HAL.
    16. Obstfeld, Maurice & Rogoff, Kenneth, 1995. "The intertemporal approach to the current account," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 1731-1799, Elsevier.
    17. Buiter, W.H. & Kletzer, K.M., 1990. "Fiscal Policy Interdependence And Efficiency," Papers 611, Yale - Economic Growth Center.
    18. Carol L. Osler, 1987. "Factor Prices and Welfare Under Integrated Capital Markets," NBER Working Papers 2447, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Serdar Sayan, 2002. "Dynamic Heckscher-Ohlin Results from a 2x2x2x2 Overlapping Generations Model with Unequal Population Growth Rates," GE, Growth, Math methods 0203002, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Mar 2002.
    20. Masaya Sakuragawa, 2013. "Bubble cycle," Working Papers e055, Tokyo Center for Economic Research.
    21. Emily T. Cremers & Partha Sen, 2009. "Transfers, the terms of trade, and capital accumulation," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(4), pages 1599-1616, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Government Debt; Overlapping Generations; Two-Sector Models; Dynamic Efficiency.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cde:cdewps:137. 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: Sanjeev Sharma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cdudein.html .

    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.