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Political economy of Ramsey taxation

Author

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  • Acemoglu, Daron
  • Golosov, Mikhail
  • Tsyvinski, Aleh

Abstract

We study the dynamic taxation of capital and labor in the Ramsey model under the assumption that taxes and public good provision are decided by a self-interested politician who cannot commit to policies. We show that, as long as the politician is as patient as the citizens, the Chamley-Judd result of zero long-run taxes holds. In contrast, if the politician is less patient than the citizens, the best (subgame perfect) equilibrium from the viewpoint of the citizens involves long-run capital taxation.

Suggested Citation

  • Acemoglu, Daron & Golosov, Mikhail & Tsyvinski, Aleh, 2011. "Political economy of Ramsey taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 467-475, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:95:y:2011:i:7-8:p:467-475
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    5. Bergemann, Dirk & Pavan, Alessandro, 2015. "Introduction to Symposium on Dynamic Contracts and Mechanism Design," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 159(PB), pages 679-701.
    6. Aguiar, Mark & Amador, Manuel, 2016. "Fiscal policy in debt constrained economies," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 37-75.
    7. Delis, Manthos D. & Iosifidi, Maria, 2020. "Environmentally aware households," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 263-279.
    8. Micael Castanheira & Gaëtan Nicodème & Paola Profeta, 2012. "On the political economics of tax reforms: survey and empirical assessment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(4), pages 598-624, August.
    9. Miao, Jianjun & Zhang, Yuzhe, 2015. "A duality approach to continuous-time contracting problems with limited commitment," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 159(PB), pages 929-988.
    10. Alesina, A. & Passalacqua, A., 2016. "The Political Economy of Government Debt," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 2599-2651, Elsevier.
    11. Fabian ten Kate & Petros Milionis, 2019. "Is capital taxation always harmful for economic growth?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(4), pages 758-805, August.
    12. Barrage, Lint, 2018. "Be careful what you calibrate for: Social discounting in general equilibrium," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 33-49.
    13. Reis, Catarina, 2012. "Social discounting and incentive compatible fiscal policy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(6), pages 2469-2482.
    14. Lin Ma & Qinchuan Du & Tian Wu, 2019. "Government Intervention and Automobile Industry Structure: Theory and Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-25, August.
    15. Dai, Darong, 2013. "Cooperative economic growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 407-415.
    16. Grechyna, Daryna, 2017. "Public Policy Against Political Frictions," MPRA Paper 76396, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Acemoglu, Daron & Golosov, Mikhail & Tsyvinski, Aleh, 2011. "Power fluctuations and political economy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 146(3), pages 1009-1041, May.
    18. Grechyna, Daryna, 2016. "Political frictions and public policy outcomes," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 484-495.
    19. Micael Castanheira & Gaëtan Nicodème & Paola Profeta, 2012. "On the political economics of tax reforms: survey and empirical assessment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(4), pages 598-624, August.
    20. Aronsson, Thomas & Johansson-Stenman, Olof, 2014. "Positional preferences in time and space: Optimal income taxation with dynamic social comparisons," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1-23.
    21. Dai, Darong, 2012. "Comparative Studies on Cooperative Stochastic Differential Game and Dynamic Sequential Game of Economic Maturity," MPRA Paper 44339, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Di Bartolomeo Giovanni & Tirelli Patrizio, 2016. "Public finance and the optimal inflation rate," wp.comunite 00128, Department of Communication, University of Teramo.
    23. Yena Park, 2012. "Optimal Taxation in a Limited Commitment Economy," PIER Working Paper Archive 12-033, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    24. Dirk Bergemann & Alessandro Pavan, 2015. "Introduction to JET Symposium Issue on "Dynamic Contracts and Mechanism Design"," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2016, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    25. Grechyna, Daryna, 2015. "Quantifying the Impact of Political Frictions on Public Policy," MPRA Paper 65266, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital taxation Fiscal policy Political economy;

    JEL classification:

    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation

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