IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cuf/wpaper/614.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The spirit of capitalism and optimal capital taxation

Author

Listed:
  • Fanghui Li

    (Center for Economic Research, Shandong University)

  • Gaowang Wang

    (Center for Economic Research, Shandong University)

  • Heng-fu Zou

    (China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics)

Abstract

The paper reexamines the famous Chamley-Judd zero capital tax theorem in model economies where the agents are endowed with the spirit of capitalism. It is shown that the limiting capital income tax is not zero in general and depends on the utility speciffications rather than the production technology. The similar formulas of optimal capital taxes are derived in more general settings with multiple physical capitals or heterogeneous agents (capitalists and workers).

Suggested Citation

  • Fanghui Li & Gaowang Wang & Heng-fu Zou, 2020. "The spirit of capitalism and optimal capital taxation," CEMA Working Papers 614, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cuf:wpaper:614
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://down.aefweb.net/WorkingPapers/w614.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zou, Heng-fu, 1994. "'The spirit of capitalism' and long-run growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 279-293, July.
    2. Bakshi, Gurdip S & Chen, Zhiwu, 1996. "The Spirit of Capitalism and Stock-Market Prices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 133-157, March.
    3. Boileau, Martin & Braeu, Rebecca, 2007. "The Spirit Of Capitalism, Asset Returns, And The Business Cycle," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 214-230, April.
    4. Lucas, Robert Jr. & Stokey, Nancy L., 1983. "Optimal fiscal and monetary policy in an economy without capital," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 55-93.
    5. Karnizova, Lilia, 2010. "The spirit of capitalism and expectation-driven business cycles," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 739-752, September.
    6. Matthias Doepke & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2008. "Occupational Choice and the Spirit of Capitalism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 747-793.
    7. Smith, William T, 2001. "How Does the Spirit of Capitalism Affect Stock Market Prices?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(4), pages 1215-1232.
    8. Judd, Kenneth L., 1985. "Redistributive taxation in a simple perfect foresight model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 59-83, October.
    9. Xie, Danyang, 1997. "On Time Inconsistency: A Technical Issue in Stackelberg Differential Games," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 412-430, October.
    10. Luo, Yulei & Young, Eric R., 2009. "The Wealth Distribution And The Demand For Status," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(S1), pages 1-30, May.
    11. Chamley, Christophe, 1986. "Optimal Taxation of Capital Income in General Equilibrium with Infinite Lives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 607-622, May.
    12. Cole, Harold L & Mailath, George J & Postlewaite, Andrew, 1992. "Social Norms, Savings Behavior, and Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(6), pages 1092-1125, December.
    13. Heng-fu Zou, 1995. "The spirit of capitalism and savings behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 131-143, September.
    14. Kydland, Finn E & Prescott, Edward C, 1977. "Rules Rather Than Discretion: The Inconsistency of Optimal Plans," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(3), pages 473-491, June.
    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. Wang, Gaowang & Zou, Heng-fu, 2020. "Optimal fiscal and monetary policy in economies with capital," MPRA Paper 102753, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Wang, Gaowang & Zou, Heng-fu, 2020. "Optimal fiscal and monetary policy in economies with capital," MPRA Paper 102753, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Li, Fanghui & Wang, Gaowang, 2019. "The Demand for Status and Optimal Capital Taxation," MPRA Paper 96076, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Marco Airaudo, 2017. "Complex stock price dynamics under Max Weber’s spirit of capitalism hypothesis," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 64(1), pages 47-73, June.
    4. Richard M. H. Suen, 2014. "Time Preference And The Distributions Of Wealth And Income," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 364-381, January.
    5. Qin Wang & Yiheng Zou & Yu Ren & Zhuo Huang, 2015. "The Spirit of Capitalism and the Equity Premium," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 16(2), pages 493-513, November.
    6. Yulei Luo & Jun Nie & Heng-fu Zou, 2021. "Wealth in the Utility Function and Consumption Inequality," Research Working Paper RWP 21-17, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    7. Yuanping Wang & Yingjie Niu & Siwen Gong, 2022. "Robust consumption policy with the desire for wealth accumulation," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 993-1025, September.
    8. Yulei Luo & William T. Smith & Heng-fu Zou, 2009. "The Spirit of Capitalism and Excess Smoothness," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 10(2), pages 281-301, November.
    9. Francis, Johanna L., 2009. "Wealth and the capitalist spirit," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 394-408, September.
    10. Liutang Gong & Yulei Luo & Heng-fu Zou, 2009. "Social Status, the Spirit of Capitalism, and the Term Structure of Interest Rates in Stochastic Production Economies," CEMA Working Papers 372, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    11. Karnizova, Lilia, 2010. "The spirit of capitalism and expectation-driven business cycles," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 739-752, September.
    12. Jizheng Huang & Heng-fu Zou, 2013. "Asset Pricing, Capital Structure and the Spirit of Capitalism in a Production Economy," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 14(2), pages 367-384, November.
    13. Zaifu Yang & Rong Zhang, 2021. "Generalized Cumulative Offer Processes," Discussion Papers 21/08, Department of Economics, University of York.
    14. Zaifu Yang & Rong Zhang, 2024. "Consumption, Wealth, Frugality, and Economic Growth," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 25(1), pages 31-61, May.
    15. Dreyer, Johannes K. & Schneider, Johannes & Smith, William T., 2013. "Saving-based asset-pricing," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3704-3715.
    16. repec:cuf:journl:y:2013:v:14:i:1:n:3:huang is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Gong, Liutang & Zou, Heng-fu, 2012. "Risk-taking, fiscal policies, asset pricing, and stochastic growth with the spirit of capitalism," MPRA Paper 37426, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Heng-Fu Zou, 1997. "Dynamic analysis in the Viner model of mercantilism," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 637-651, August.
    19. Carlos Garriga, 2019. "Optimal Fiscal Policy in Overlapping Generations Models," Public Finance Review, , vol. 47(1), pages 3-31, January.
    20. Gross, Till & Klein, Paul & Makris, Miltiadis, 2020. "Residence- and source-based capital taxation in open economies with infinitely-lived consumers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    21. Nikolay Arefiev, 2008. "The Inconsistency Puzzle Resolved: an Omitted Variable," EERI Research Paper Series EERI_RP_2008_15, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

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

    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:cuf:wpaper:614. 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: Qiang Gao (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emcufcn.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.