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Monetary policy, taxes and the business cycle

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  • William T. Gavin
  • Finn E. Kydland
  • Michael R. Pakko

Abstract

This paper analyzes the interaction of inflation with the tax code and its contribution to aggregate fluctuations. We find significant effects operating through the tax on realized nominal capital gains. A tax on nominal bond income magnifies these effects. Our innovation is to combine monetary policy shocks with non-indexed taxes in a model where the central bank implements policy using an interest rate rule. Monetary policy had important effects on the behavior of the business cycle before 1980 because policymakers did not exert effective control over inflation. Monetary policy reform around 1980 led to better control, and with more stable inflation, the effect of the interaction between monetary policy and the nominal capital gains tax has become negligible.

Suggested Citation

  • William T. Gavin & Finn E. Kydland & Michael R. Pakko, 2006. "Monetary policy, taxes and the business cycle," Working Papers 2004-017, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2004-017
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    2. Lin, Zifei & Li, Jiaorui & Li, Shuang, 2016. "On a business cycle model with fractional derivative under narrow-band random excitation," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 61-70.
    3. Accolley, Delali, 2018. "Accounting for Busines Cycles in Canada: II. The Role of Money," MPRA Paper 85481, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Anagnostopoulos, Alexis & Cárceles-Poveda, Eva & Lin, Danmo, 2012. "Dividend and capital gains taxation under incomplete markets," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(7), pages 599-611.
    5. Orhan Atesagaoglu & Eva Carceles-Poveda & Alexis Anagnostopoulos, 2014. "Capital Income Taxation with Household and Firm Heterogeneity," 2014 Meeting Papers 525, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    6. Simon Bösenberg & Peter Egger & Benedikt Zoller-Rydzek, 2018. "Capital taxation, investment, growth, and welfare," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(2), pages 325-376, April.
    7. Panagiotis Chronis & Aspassia Strantzalou, 2008. "Monetary and Fiscal Policy Interaction: What is the Role of the Transaction Cost of the Tax System in Stabilisation Policies?," Working Papers 71, Bank of Greece.
    8. William Gavin & Benjamin Keen & Finn Kydland, 2015. "Monetary Policy, the Tax Code, and the Real Effects of Energy Shocks," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(3), pages 694-707, July.
    9. Anatoliy Belaygorod & Michael J. Dueker, 2005. "Discrete monetary policy changes and changing inflation targets in estimated dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 87(Nov), pages 719-734.
    10. Reona Hagiwara, 2023. "Aging, Health Risk, and Interest Rates," Working Papers 2303, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics.
    11. Finn E. Kydland & Fei Mao & William T. Gavin, 2011. "Monetary Policy, the Tax Code, and Energy Price Shocks," 2011 Meeting Papers 1160, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    12. Wilson, Matthew S., 2020. "A real business cycle model with money as a sunspot variable," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    13. Matheus Cardoso Leal & Marcio Issao Nakane, 2022. "Brazilian economy in the 2000’s: A tale of two recessions," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2022_20, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    14. Brinca, Pedro & Costa-Filho, João & Loria, Francesca, 2020. "Business Cycle Accounting: what have we learned so far?," MPRA Paper 100180, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Zeida, Teegawende H., 2019. "On the corporate tax reform: Coordination and trade-offs," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
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    17. Alexis Anagnostopoulos & Orhan Erem Atesagaoglu & Eva Carceles-Poveda, 2014. "On the Double Taxation of Corporate Profits," Department of Economics Working Papers 14-03, Stony Brook University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inflation (Finance); Business cycles; Taxation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System

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