IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ucr/wpaper/202103.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On Government Spending and Income Inequality under Monopolistic Competition

Author

Listed:
  • Juin-Jen Chang

    (Academia Sinica)

  • Jang-Ting Guo

    (Department of Economics, University of California Riverside)

  • Wei-Neng Wang

    (National Taichung University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

This paper systematically examines the theoretical as well as quantitative interrelations between government spending and disposable-income inequality in a tractable monopolistically competitive Ramsey macroeconomy. Upon a higher government size, we analytically show that whether the long-run after-tax Gini coefficient rises or falls depends on the sign and magnitude of the wealth inequality effect versus those of the adjusted-labor effect. Under (i) a mild level of productive public expenditures and (ii) a sufficiently high intertemporal elasticity of consumption substitution, our calibrated model is able to generate qualitatively as well as quantitatively consistent income-inequality effects of government spending vis-Ã -vis recent estimation results.

Suggested Citation

  • Juin-Jen Chang & Jang-Ting Guo & Wei-Neng Wang, 2021. "On Government Spending and Income Inequality under Monopolistic Competition," Working Papers 202103, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucr:wpaper:202103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://economics.ucr.edu/repec/ucr/wpaper/202103.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2021
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Douglas Holtz-Eakin & David Joulfaian & Harvey S. Rosen, 1993. "The Carnegie Conjecture: Some Empirical Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(2), pages 413-435.
    2. Turnovsky, Stephen J. & Garci­a-Peñalosa, Cecilia, 2008. "Distributional dynamics in a neoclassical growth model: The role of elastic labor supply," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 1399-1431, May.
    3. Devereux, Michael B & Head, Allen C & Lapham, Beverly J, 1996. "Monopolistic Competition, Increasing Returns, and the Effects of Government Spending," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(2), pages 233-254, May.
    4. Domowitz, Ian & Hubbard, R Glenn & Petersen, Bruce C, 1988. "Market Structure and Cyclical Fluctuations in U.S. Manufacturing," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(1), pages 55-66, February.
    5. Branko Milanovic, 2002. "True World Income Distribution, 1988 and 1993: First Calculation Based on Household Surveys Alone," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(476), pages 51-92, January.
    6. García-Peñalosa, Cecilia & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2009. "The Dynamics Of Wealth Inequality In A Simple Ramsey Model: A Note On The Role Of Production Flexibility," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 250-262, April.
    7. Michael B. Devereux & Allen C. Head & Beverly J. Lapham, 2000. "Government Spending and Welfare with Returns to Specialization," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(4), pages 547-561, December.
    8. Basu, Susanto & Fernald, John G, 1997. "Returns to Scale in U.S. Production: Estimates and Implications," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(2), pages 249-283, April.
    9. Paolo Liberati, 2015. "The World Distribution of Income And Its Inequality, 1970–2009," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(2), pages 248-273, June.
    10. Casey B. Mulligan, 2002. "Capital, Interest, and Aggregate Intertemporal Substitution," NBER Working Papers 9373, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    12. Chirinko, R S & Fazzari, S, 1994. "Economic Fluctuations, Market Power, and Returns to Scale: Evidence from Firm-Level Data," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(1), pages 47-69, Jan.-Marc.
    13. Martin Guzi & Martin Kahanec, 2018. "Income Inequality and the Size of Government: A Causal Analysis," MUNI ECON Working Papers 2018-02, Masaryk University, revised Feb 2023.
    14. Laitner, John & Stolyarov, Dmitriy, 2004. "Aggregate returns to scale and embodied technical change: theory and measurement using stock market data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 191-233, January.
    15. Cecilia Garc√Ça-Pe√Ëalosa & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2011. "Taxation and Income Distribution Dynamics in a Neoclassical Growth Model," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(8), pages 1543-1577, December.
    16. Robert E. Hall, 1986. "Market Structure and Macroeconomic Fluctuations," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 17(2), pages 285-338.
    17. Jonathan Gruber, 2006. "A Tax-Based Estimate of the Elasticity of Intertemporal Substitution," NBER Working Papers 11945, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mursit Recepoglu, 2022. "Public Expenditures, Economic Growth and Income Inequality: Empirical Evidence from the Commonwealth of Independent States," Journal of Economic Policy Researches, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 9(2), pages 293-314, July.

    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. Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2013. "The relationship between economic growth and inequality," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 113-139, August.
    2. Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2015. "Economic growth and inequality: The role of public investment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 204-221.
    3. Chatterjee, Santanu & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2012. "Infrastructure and inequality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(8), pages 1730-1745.
    4. Barseghyan, Levon & DiCecio, Riccardo, 2016. "Externalities, endogenous productivity, and poverty traps," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 112-126.
    5. Daisuke Miyashita, 2023. "Public debt and income inequality in an endogenous growth model with elastic labor supply," International Journal of Economic Policy Studies, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 447-472, August.
    6. Sara Amoroso & Peter M. Kort & Bertrand Melenberg & Joseph Plasmans & Mark Vancauteren, 2010. "Firm Level Productivity under Imperfect Competition in Output and Labor Markets," CESifo Working Paper Series 3082, CESifo.
    7. Guo, Jang-Ting & Sirbu, Anca-Ioana & Weder, Mark, 2015. "News about aggregate demand and the business cycle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 83-96.
    8. Carneiro, Fernando Moraes & Turnovsky, Stephen J. & Tourinho, Octavio Augusto Fontes, 2022. "Economic growth and inequality tradeoffs under progressive taxation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    9. d’Albis, Hippolyte & Augeraud-Veron, Emmanuelle & Venditti, Alain, 2012. "Business cycle fluctuations and learning-by-doing externalities in a one-sector model," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 295-308.
    10. Frederic Warzynski & Jan De Loecker, 2010. "Markups and Firm-level Exports," 2010 Meeting Papers 438, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Jan De Loecker & Frederic Warzynski, 2012. "Markups and Firm-Level Export Status," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2437-2471, October.
    12. Russell Cooper & Andrew John, 2000. "Imperfect competition and macroeconomics : Theory and quantitative implications," Cahiers d'Économie Politique, Programme National Persée, vol. 37(1), pages 289-328.
    13. Altug, S. & Filiztekin, A., 1997. "Estimates of the Returns to Scale for US Manufacturing," Papers 1997/24, Koc University.
    14. Marcel Aloy & Gilles de Truchis, 2012. "Estimation and Testing for Fractional Cointegration," AMSE Working Papers 1215, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    15. Leonhard Frerick & Georg Müller-Fürstenberger & Martin Schmidt & Max Späth, 2022. "Complementarity Modeling of a Ramsey-Type Equilibrium Problem with Heterogeneous Agents," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 60(3), pages 1135-1154, October.
    16. Chen, Shu-Hua, 2020. "Inequality-growth nexus under progressive income taxation," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    17. Christopher J. Nekarda & Valerie A. Ramey, 2020. "The Cyclical Behavior of the Price‐Cost Markup," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(S2), pages 319-353, December.
    18. Domenico Marchetti, 2002. "Markups and the Business Cycle: Evidence from Italian Manufacturing Branches," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 87-103, January.
    19. José C. Fariñas & Elena Huergo, 2003. "Profit Margins, Adjustment Costs and the Business Cycle: An Application to Spanish Manufacturing Firms," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(1), pages 49-72, February.
    20. Cecilia García-Peñalosa & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2012. "Income Inequality, Mobility, and the Accumulation of Capital. The role of Heterogeneous Labor Productivity," AMSE Working Papers 1216, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Government Spending; Income Inequality; Monopolistic Competition.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General

    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:ucr:wpaper:202103. 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: Kelvin Mac (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deucrus.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.