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The effect of income distribution and fiscal policy on growth, investment, and budget balance: the case of Europe

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  • Obst, Thomas
  • Onaran, Özlem
  • Nikolaidi, Maria

Abstract

This paper develops a multi-country Post-Kaleckian model augmented by a government sector with public spending and taxes on consumption, labour and capital and estimates it for the EU15 countries. We estimate country specific equations to find the effect of income distribution, public spending and taxes on growth, on each component of private aggregate demand (i.e., consumption, investment, and net exports) and on budget balance for the EU15 countries. Next, we calculate a Europe-wide multiplier based on the responses of each country to changes not only in domestic income distribution, taxation and government expenditure but also to changes in the other European countries’ wage share, taxes and public spending. One novelty of this paper is that it goes beyond an isolated country-by-country analysis and integrates cross-country effects of a simultaneous change in the wage share on demand in Europe in a government augmented Post-Kaleckian model.Extending the model by taxes on labour and capital increases the likelihood of a wage-led economic regime. The fiscal multiplier effects are much stronger when policies are implemented simultaneously, and wage, tax and public spending policies are integrated into the policy mix. The impact of egalitarian wage policies are positive but small; the overall stimulus becomes much stronger when mixed with fiscal expansion. Expansionary fiscal policy is sustainable when wage, public spending and progressive tax policies are combined. The analysis of the paper can guide the development of a fiscal and wage policy mix conducive to equitable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Obst, Thomas & Onaran, Özlem & Nikolaidi, Maria, 2017. "The effect of income distribution and fiscal policy on growth, investment, and budget balance: the case of Europe," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 16088, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    • Handle: RePEc:gpe:wpaper:16088
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    Cited by:

    1. Özlem Onaran, 2019. "Equality‐led Development and the Demand‐ and Supply‐side Effects," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 50(2), pages 445-457, March.
    2. Woodgate, Ryan, 2021. "Profit-led in effect or in mere appearance? Estimating the Irish demand regime given the influence of multinational enterprises," IPE Working Papers 154/2021, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    3. Cem Oyvat & Oğuz Öztunalı & Ceyhun Elgin, 2020. "Wage‐led versus profit‐led demand: A comprehensive empirical analysis," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(3), pages 458-486, July.
    4. Robert A Blecker & Michael Cauvel & Y K Kim, 2022. "Systems estimation of a structural model of distribution and demand in the US economy," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 46(2), pages 391-420.
    5. Stirati, Antonella & Paternesi Meloni, Walter, 2021. "Unemployment and the wage share: a long-run exploration for major mature economies," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 330-352.
    6. Engelbert Stockhammer & Karsten Kohler, 2023. "Learning from distant cousins? Post-Keynesian Economics, Comparative Political Economy, and the Growth Models approach," Chapters, in: Thomas Palley & Esteban Pérez Caldentey & Matías Vernengo (ed.), Varieties of Capitalism, chapter 3, pages 56-75, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Hein, Eckhard, 2017. "Financialisation and tendencies towards stagnation: The role of macroeconomic regime changes in the course of and after the financial and economic crisis 2007-9," IPE Working Papers 90/2017, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    8. Barbieri Góes, Maria Cristina, 2019. "Personal income distribution and progressive taxation in a neo-Kaleckian model: Insights from the Italian case," IPE Working Papers 126/2019, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    9. Onaran, Özlem & Guschanski, Alexander, 2018. "The causes of falling wage share: sectoral and firm level evidence from developed and developing countries – what have we learned?," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 19373, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    10. Eckhard Hein & Eckhard Achim Truger, 2017. "Opportunities and limits of rebalancing the Eurozone via wage policies," FMM Working Paper 06-2017, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage share; growth; European multiplier; demand regime; government sector; public spending; tax policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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