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A Tale of Tax Policies in Open Economies

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  • Stéphane Auray

    (CREST (Ensai), Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale (EQUIPPE), Université de Shebrooke (GREDI) and CIRPEE)

  • Aurélien Eyquem

    (Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69007, France ; Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, F-69007, France ; CNRS, GATE Lyon St Etienne, Ecully, F-69130, France ; and GREDI, Canada)

  • Paul Gomme

    (Concordia University and CIREQ)

Abstract

Recent financial crises in Europe as well as the periodic battles in the U.S. over the debt ceiling point to the importance of fiscal discipline among developed countries. This paper develops an open economy model, calibrated to the U.S. and a subset of the EMU, to evaluate the impact of various permanent tax changes. The first set of experiments considers a targeted one percentage point reduction in the government deficit-to-GDP ratio through raising one of : the consumption tax, the labor income tax, or the capital income tax. In terms of welfare, the consumption tax is found to be the least costly of the tax increases. A second set of experiments looks at deficit-neutral tax changes : partially replacing the capital income tax with either a higher labor income tax or higher consumption tax ; and partially replacing the labor income tax with an increased consumption tax. Reducing reliance on capital income taxation is welfare-enhancing, although it leads to short term losses. Reducing labor income taxation improves international competitiveness and is welfare-improving.

Suggested Citation

  • Stéphane Auray & Aurélien Eyquem & Paul Gomme, 2011. "A Tale of Tax Policies in Open Economies," Working Papers 1138, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
  • Handle: RePEc:gat:wpaper:1138
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    Cited by:

    1. Auray, Stéphane & Eyquem, Aurélien & Gomme, Paul, 2019. "Debt hangover in the aftermath of the Great Recession," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 107-133.
    2. D’Erasmo, P. & Mendoza, E.G. & Zhang, J., 2016. "What is a Sustainable Public Debt?," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 2493-2597, Elsevier.
    3. Paul Gomme, 2020. "Labor Market and Fiscal Policy During and After the Coronavirus," Cahiers de recherche 12-2020, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
    4. Enrique G. Mendoza & Linda L. Tesar & Jing Zhang, 2014. "Saving Europe?: The Unpleasant Arithmetic of Fiscal Austerity in Integrated Economies," Working Paper Series WP-2014-13, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    5. Auray, Stéphane & Eyquem, Aurélien & Gomme, Paul, 2018. "Ramsey-optimal tax reforms and real exchange rate dynamics," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 159-169.
    6. Alba, Carlos & McKnight, Stephen, 2022. "Laffer curves in emerging market economies: The role of informality," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Auray, Stéphane & Eyquem, Aurélien, 2019. "Episodes of war and peace in an estimated open economy model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 203-249.
    8. Kotamäki Mauri, 2017. "Laffer Curves and Home Production," Nordic Tax Journal, Sciendo, vol. 2017(1), pages 59-69, January.
    9. Alejandro Cunat & Szabolcs Deak & Marco Maffezzoli, 2022. "Tax Cuts in Open Economies," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 45, pages 83-108, July.
    10. repec:prs:ecstat:estat_0336-1454_2017_num_494_1_10782 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Jocelyn Boussard & Benoît Campagne, 2017. "Fiscal policy coordination in a monetary union at the zero lower bound," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 494-495-4, pages 65-90.
    12. Jing Zhang, 2015. "Saving Europe?," 2015 Meeting Papers 599, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    13. Paul Gomme, 2022. "US Fiscal policy during and after the coronavirus," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(S1), pages 358-378, February.
    14. Cubizol, Damien, 2020. "Rebalancing in China: A taxation approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    15. Chen, Xiaoshan & Leith, Campbell & Ricci, Mattia, 2023. "Evaluating fiscal policy reforms using the fiscal frontier," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    16. Damien Cubizol, 2017. "Rebalancing in China: a taxation approach," Working Papers 1732, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    17. Paul Gomme & Damba Lkhagvasuren, 2013. "Calibration and simulation of DSGE models," Chapters, in: Nigar Hashimzade & Michael A. Thornton (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Empirical Macroeconomics, chapter 24, pages 575-592, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal policies; open economies; public deficits; tax reforms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics

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