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Aggregate Instability under Labor Income Taxation and Balanced-Budget Rules: Preferences Matter

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  • Nicolas Abad

    (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Thomas Seegmuller

    (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Alain Venditti

    (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, EDHEC Business School - Département Comptabilité, Droit, Finance et Economie)

Abstract

We investigate the role of preferences in the existence of expectation-driven instability under a balanced budget rule where government spendings are financed by a tax on labor income. Considering a one-sector neoclassical growth model with a large class of preferences, we find that expectation-driven fluctuations are more likely when consumption and labor are Edgeworth substitutes. Under this property, an intermediate range of tax rates and a sufficiently low elasticity of intertemporal substitution in consumption lead to instability. Numerical simulations of the model support the conclusion that labor income taxation is a plausible source of instability in most OECD countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolas Abad & Thomas Seegmuller & Alain Venditti, 2013. "Aggregate Instability under Labor Income Taxation and Balanced-Budget Rules: Preferences Matter," Working Papers halshs-00793213, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00793213
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00793213v2
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    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    indeterminacy; expectation-driven business cycles; infinite-horizon model; labor income taxes; balanced-budget rule;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C62 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Existence and Stability Conditions of Equilibrium
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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