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Optimal Dynamic Tax-Transfer Policies in Heterogeneous-Agents Economies

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Abstract

When designing an optimal tax-transfer system, the existing literature identifies two key factors: labor efficiency and debt efficiency. The labor-efficiency approach emphasizes the trade-off between redistribution and distortion in the labor market, while the debt-efficiency approach emphasizes the trade-off between monopoly rent gains and distortion in the asset market. In this paper, we propose a third factor for designing optimal tax-transfer policies: the dynamic-efficiency approach. To demonstrate this, we use an analytically tractable infinite-horizon model incorporating both ex-ante and ex-post heterogeneity. We show that the optimal tax-transfer system is determined at the point where the intertemporal wedge between the market interest rate and the time discount rate is completely eliminated, regardless of the Laffer curve, provided that the government’s fiscal space permits an interior Ramsey steady state. Therefore, in line with recent findings by Chien and Wen (2024), incorporating dynamic efficiency could potentially transform the structure of optimal tax-transfer policies within an infinite-horizon model featuring heterogeneous agents.

Suggested Citation

  • YiLi Chien & Yi Wen, 2023. "Optimal Dynamic Tax-Transfer Policies in Heterogeneous-Agents Economies," Working Papers 2023-009, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised 27 Jun 2025.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlwp:96078
    DOI: 10.20955/wp.2023.009
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Florin Bilbiie & Xavier Ragot, 2021. "Optimal Monetary Policy and Liquidity with Heterogeneous Households," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 41, pages 71-95, July.
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    JEL classification:

    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • 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
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General

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