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Distortionary Taxes and Public Investment When Government Promises Are Not Enforceable

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  • Jorge Soares, Marina Azzimonti, Pierre-Daniel Sarte

    (Department of Economics, University of Iowa)

  • Pierre-Daniel Sarte

    (Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond)

  • Jorge Soares

    (Department of Economics,University of Delaware)

Abstract

We characterize Markov-perfect equilibria in a setting where the absence of government commitment affects the financing of productive public capital. We show that at any date, a government in office only considers intertemporal distortions over two consecutive periods in choosing taxes. We then use our framework to quantify the value of commitment, which we define as that obtained from binding governments to a course of actions that produce the second-best allocations.

Suggested Citation

  • Jorge Soares, Marina Azzimonti, Pierre-Daniel Sarte & Pierre-Daniel Sarte & Jorge Soares, 2006. "Distortionary Taxes and Public Investment When Government Promises Are Not Enforceable," Working Papers 06-07, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:dlw:wpaper:06-07
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    2. Gonzalez-Eiras, Martín & Niepelt, Dirk, 2012. "Ageing, government budgets, retirement, and growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 97-115.
    3. Laczó, Sarolta & Rossi, Raffaele, 2020. "Time-consistent consumption taxation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 194-220.
    4. Novales, Alfonso & Pérez, Rafaela & Ruiz, Jesus, 2014. "Optimal time-consistent fiscal policy under endogenous growth with elastic labor supply," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 398-412.
    5. Martin, Fernando M., 2015. "Policy And Welfare Effects Of Within-Period Commitment," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(7), pages 1401-1426, October.
    6. Martin, Fernando M., 2015. "Debt, inflation and central bank independence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 129-150.
    7. Dai, Meixing & Sidiropoulos, Moïse, 2011. "Monetary and fiscal policy interactions with central bank transparency and public investment," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 195-208, September.
    8. Novales, Alfonso & Pérez, Rafaela & Ruiz, Jesús, 2014. "Optimal time-consistent fiscal policy in an endogenous growth economy with public consumption and capital," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 104-117.
    9. Stefano Gnocchi & Luisa Lambertini, 2016. "Monetary Commitment and the Level of Public Debt," Staff Working Papers 16-3, Bank of Canada.
    10. Fernando M. Martin, 2013. "Government Policy In Monetary Economies," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(1), pages 185-217, February.
    11. José Laurindo de Almeida & Helder Ferreira de Mendonça, 2019. "The effect of infrastructure and taxation on economic growth: new empirical assessment," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(5), pages 1065-1082, August.
    12. Francesco Lancia & Alessia Russo, 2010. "A Dynamic Politico-Economic Model of Intergenerational Contracts," Center for Economic Research (RECent) 050, University of Modena and Reggio E., Dept. of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    13. Marina Azzimonti, 2011. "Barriers to Investment in Polarized Societies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 2182-2204, August.
    14. Guillermo Santos, 2022. "Optimal fiscal policy and the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2022022, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    15. Alex Schmitt, 2018. "Optimal Carbon Pricing and Income Taxation Without Commitment," ifo Working Paper Series 274, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    16. Marina Azzimonti, 2018. "The Politics Of Fdi Expropriation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 59(2), pages 479-510, May.
    17. Marina Azzimonti & Eva De Francisco & Per Krusell, 2006. "Median‐voter Equilibria in the Neoclassical Growth Model under Aggregation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 108(4), pages 587-606, December.
    18. Stephanos Papadamou & Eleftherios Spyromitros & Panagiotis Tsintzos, 2017. "Public investment, inflation persistence and central bank independence," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(6), pages 976-986, November.
    19. Toshihiko Mukoyama & Latchezar Popov, 2020. "Industrialization and the evolution of enforcement institutions," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 69(3), pages 745-788, April.
    20. Salvador Ortigueira & Joana Pereira, 2016. "Lack of Commitment, Retroactive Tax Changes, and Macroeconomic Instability," Working Papers WP2016-05, University of Miami, Department of Economics.
    21. Li, Yuan & Yang, Jinqiang & Zhao, Siqi, 2022. "Present-biased government and sovereign debt dynamics," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    22. Sikdar, Shiva, 2008. "Essays in macroeconomics, international trade and the environment," ISU General Staff Papers 2008010108000016832, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public Investment; Commitment; Time consistency; Discretion; Ramsey; Markov-Perfect;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government

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