IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jmoncb/v57y2025i1p185-221.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Government Spending, Debt Management, and Wealth and Income Inequality in a Growing Monetary Economy

Author

Listed:
  • YOICHI GOKAN
  • STEPHEN J. TURNOVSKY

Abstract

This paper compares the impact of government investment and government consumption on macroeconomic aggregates and inequality when the government deficit is money‐financed while maintaining a fixed debt‐money ratio. Real aggregate quantities are independent of the debt‐money ratio, as is wealth inequality, but income inequality is impacted. We also investigate the impact of these two forms of government expenditure on the macroeconomic aggregates and distributions, illustrating their sharply contrasting effects on the tradeoffs they entail. While government investment is more effective in increasing the growth rate and moderating inflation, it has a more adverse effect on long‐run income inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Yoichi Gokan & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2025. "Government Spending, Debt Management, and Wealth and Income Inequality in a Growing Monetary Economy," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(1), pages 185-221, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jmoncb:v:57:y:2025:i:1:p:185-221
    DOI: 10.1111/jmcb.13049
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jmcb.13049
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jmcb.13049?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Palivos, Theodore & Yip, Chong K, 1995. "Government Expenditure Financing in an Endogenous Growth Model: A Comparison," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(4), pages 1159-1178, November.
    3. Fischer, Stanley, 1979. "Capital Accumulation on the Transition Path in a Monetary Optimizing Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(6), pages 1433-1439, November.
    4. Guvenen, Fatih, 2006. "Reconciling conflicting evidence on the elasticity of intertemporal substitution: A macroeconomic perspective," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 1451-1472, October.
    5. Keiichiro Kobayashi & Kozo Ueda, 2022. "Secular Stagnation and Low Interest Rates under the Fear of a Government Debt Crisis," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(4), pages 779-824, June.
    6. Mark Aguiar & Manuel Amador, 2011. "Growth in the Shadow of Expropriation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(2), pages 651-697.
    7. Lilia Maliar & Serguei Maliar, 2003. "The Representative Consumer in the Neoclassical Growth Model with Idiosyncratic Shocks," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 6(2), pages 368-380, April.
    8. Mark Aguiar & Manuel Amador & Gita Gopinath, 2009. "Investment Cycles and Sovereign Debt Overhang," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(1), pages 1-31.
    9. MaCurdy, Thomas E, 1981. "An Empirical Model of Labor Supply in a Life-Cycle Setting," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(6), pages 1059-1085, December.
    10. Greg Kaplan & Benjamin Moll & Giovanni L. Violante, 2018. "Monetary Policy According to HANK," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(3), pages 697-743, March.
    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. Adrien Auclert, 2019. "Monetary Policy and the Redistribution Channel," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(6), pages 2333-2367, June.
    13. 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.
    14. van der Ploeg, Frederick & Alogoskoufis, George S, 1994. "Money and Endogenous Growth," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 26(4), pages 771-791, November.
    15. Yoichi Gokan & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2021. "Wealth and income inequality in a monetary economy," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 9(2), pages 225-245, October.
    16. repec:bla:scandj:v:95:y:1993:i:4:p:607-25 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Gokan, Yoichi, 2002. "Alternative government financing and stochastic endogenous growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 681-706, April.
    18. Chatterjee, Satyajit, 1994. "Transitional dynamics and the distribution of wealth in a neoclassical growth model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 97-119, May.
    19. 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.
    20. Chang, Juin-Jen & Lin, Hsieh-Yu & Savitski, David W. & Tsai, Hsueh-Fang, 2022. "Inflation And Inequality In A Growing Economy With Cash And Credit Goods," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(3), pages 579-612, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Gokan, Yoichi & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2023. "Taylor rules: Consequences for wealth and income inequality," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Yoichi Gokan & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2021. "Wealth and income inequality in a monetary economy," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 9(2), pages 225-245, October.
    3. Marcel Aloy & Gilles de Truchis, 2012. "Estimation and Testing for Fractional Cointegration," AMSE Working Papers 1215, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    4. 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.
    5. García-Peñalosa, Cecilia & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2015. "Income Inequality, Mobility, And The Accumulation Of Capital," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(6), pages 1332-1357, September.
    6. Gokan, Yoichi, 2003. "The speed of convergence and alternative government financing," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 1517-1531, July.
    7. Sterk, Vincent & Tenreyro, Silvana, 2018. "The transmission of monetary policy through redistributions and durable purchases," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 124-137.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Hung, Fu-Sheng, 2005. "Optimal composition of government public capital financing," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 704-723, December.
    11. 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.
    12. Gokan, Yoichi, 2008. "Infrastructure, alternative government finance and stochastic endogenous growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 321-347, February.
    13. Chatterjee, Santanu & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2012. "Infrastructure and inequality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(8), pages 1730-1745.
    14. 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.
    15. Cecilia García-Peñalosa & Stephen Turnovsky, 2006. "Growth and income inequality: a canonical model," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 28(1), pages 25-49, May.
    16. Gokan, Yoichi, 2008. "Alternative government financing and aggregate fluctuations driven by self-fulfilling expectations," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 1650-1679, May.
    17. Cecilia García‐Peñalosa & 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.
    18. Chipeniuk, Karsten O. & Katz, Nets Hawk & Walker, Todd B., 2022. "Households, auctioneers, and aggregation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    19. Joachim Hubmer & Per Krusell & Anthony A. Smith Jr., 2020. "Sources of US Wealth Inequality: Past, Present, and Future," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2020, volume 35, pages 391-455, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Wei-Bin Zhang, 2017. "Discrimination and Inequality in an Integrated Walrasian-General-Equilibrium and Neoclassical-Growth Theory," Asian Journal of Economic Modelling, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(1), pages 57-76, March.

    More about this item

    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:wly:jmoncb:v:57:y:2025:i:1:p:185-221. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-2879 .

    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.