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The Politics of Intergenerational Redistribution

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Author Info
Guido Tabellini

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Abstract

This paper studies the political-economic equilibrium of a two-period model with overlapping generations. In each period the policy is chosen under majority rule by the generations currently alive. The paper identifies a "sustainable set" of values for public debt. Any amount of debt within this set is fully repaid in equilibrium, even in the absence of commitments. By issuing debt within this set, the first generation of voters redistributes revenue in its favor and away from the second generation. The paper characterizes the determinants of the equilibrium intergenerational redistribution carried out in this way, and points to a difference between debt policy and social security legislation as instruments of redistribution. The key features of the model are heterogeneity within each generation and altruism across generations.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 3058.

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Date of creation: Aug 1989
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3058

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  1. Cukierman, Alex & Meltzer, Allan H, 1989. "A Political Theory of Government Debt and Deficits in a Neo-Ricardian Framework," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(4), pages 713-32, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Grossman, Herschel I & Van Huyck, John B, 1988. "Sovereign Debt as a Contingent Claim: Excusable Default, Repudiation, and Reputation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 1088-97, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Bulow, Jeremy & Rogoff, Kenneth, 1989. "Sovereign Debt: Is to Forgive to Forget?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 43-50, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. repec:fth:harver:1461 is not listed on IDEAS
  5. V.V. Chari & Patrick J. Kehoe, 1989. "Sustainable plans and debt," Staff Report 125, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Hansson, Ingemar & Stuart, Charles, 1989. "Social Security as Trade among Living Generations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 1182-95, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Kotlikoff, Laurence J & Persson, Torsten & Svensson, Lars E O, 1988. "Social Contracts as Assets: A Possible Solution to the Time-Consistency Problem," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(4), pages 662-77, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Mahieu, GŽraldine & Rottier, StŽphane, 1998. "Pensions and Voting Equilibria in an Overlapping Generation Model with Heterogeneous Agents," Discussion Papers (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) 1999031, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES), revised 00 Nov 1999. [Downloadable!]
  2. Niepelt, Dirk, 2008. "Debt Maturity without Commitment," CEPR Discussion Papers 7093, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. H. Lloyd-Ellis & Xiaodong Zhu, 1998. "Fiscal Shocks and Fiscal Risk Management," Working Papers lloydell-98-01, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Rizzo, Giuseppe, 2009. "Fertility and pension systems," MPRA Paper 12998, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  5. Beetsma, R., 1995. "The Political Economy of a Changing Population," Discussion Paper 11, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  6. Gregory W. Huffman, 1995. "An equilibrium analysis of central bank independence and inflation," Working Papers 95-01, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Torsten Persson, 1992. "Politics and economic policy," Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics 62, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 2001. "Generational Policy," NBER Working Papers 8163, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
    • Kotlikoff, Laurence J., 2002. "Generational policy," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 27, pages 1873-1932 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 1996. "Intergenerational Redistribution with Short-Lived Governments," NBER Working Papers 5447, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Debora Di Gioacchino & Sergio Ginebri & Laura Sabani, 2005. "Public Debt Repudiation In A Monetary Union: The Role Of The Geographical Allocation Of Domestic Debt," Working Papers 81, Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Public Economics. [Downloadable!]
  11. Carlos Garriga-Calvet, 2000. "Optimal Fiscal Policy in Overlapping Generations Models," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1772, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Jerry Green & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 2006. "On the General Relativity of Fiscal Language," NBER Working Papers 12344, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Robert MacCulloch, 2001. "Does Social Insurance Help Secure Property Rights?," STICERD - Development Economics Papers 31, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  14. Ignacio Lago-Peñas & Santiago Lago-Peñas, 2009. "Does the nationalization of party systems affect the composition of public spending?," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 85-98, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Victor Vaugirard, 2005. "Crony Capitalism and Sovereign Default," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 77-99, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Sita Nataraj Slavov, 2001. "Age Bias in Fiscal Policy: Why Does the Political Process Favor the Elderly?," Occidental Economics Working Papers 1, Occidental College, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2006. [Downloadable!]
  17. Karin Mayr, 2006. "Optimal budget deficits and immigration," Economics working papers 2006-19, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria. [Downloadable!]
  18. Di Gioacchino, Debora & Ginebri, Sergio & Sabani, Laura, 2003. "The Political Power of the Owners of Public Debt," Economics & Statistics Discussion Papers esdp03006, University of Molise, Dept. SEGeS. [Downloadable!]
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