IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp6876.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Can Taxes Stabilize the Economy in the Presence of Consumption Externalities?

Author

Listed:
  • Lloyd-Braga, Teresa

    (Católica Lisbon)

  • Modesto, Leonor

    (Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, Lisbon)

Abstract

Considering a finance constrained economy, we discuss the stabilization role of variable labour and capital income taxes under a balanced-budget rule in the presence of consumption externalities of the "keeping up with the Joneses" type. We find that sufficiently procyclical labor and/or capital income taxes are able to ensure saddle path stability eliminating belief-driven cyclical fluctuations. Moreover, for higher values of consumption externalities, saddle path stability can only be reached with more procyclical labor or capital income taxation. We therefore conclude that finance constrained models with "keeping up with the Joneses" preferences call for traditional Keynesian demand-management policies in order to stabilize business cycle fluctuations.

Suggested Citation

  • Lloyd-Braga, Teresa & Modesto, Leonor, 2012. "Can Taxes Stabilize the Economy in the Presence of Consumption Externalities?," IZA Discussion Papers 6876, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6876
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp6876.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guo, Jang-Ting & Lansing, Kevin J., 1998. "Indeterminacy and Stabilization Policy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 481-490, October.
    2. Alonso-Carrera, Jaime & Caballé, Jordi & Raurich, Xavier, 2008. "Can consumption spillovers be a source of equilibrium indeterminacy?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 2883-2902, September.
    3. Teresa Lloyd‐Braga & Leonor Modesto & Thomas Seegmuller, 2008. "Tax Rate Variability and Public Spending as Sources of Indeterminacy," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 10(3), pages 399-421, June.
    4. Grandmont, Jean-Michel & Pintus, Patrick & de Vilder, Robin, 1998. "Capital-Labor Substitution and Competitive Nonlinear Endogenous Business Cycles," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 14-59, May.
    5. Christiano, Lawrence J. & G. Harrison, Sharon, 1999. "Chaos, sunspots and automatic stabilizers," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 3-31, August.
    6. Wendner, Ronald, 2010. "Growth And Keeping Up With The Joneses," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(S2), pages 176-199, November.
    7. Hansen, Gary D., 1985. "Indivisible labor and the business cycle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 309-327, November.
    8. Mendoza, Enrique G. & Razin, Assaf & Tesar, Linda L., 1994. "Effective tax rates in macroeconomics: Cross-country estimates of tax rates on factor incomes and consumption," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 297-323, December.
    9. Guo, Jang-Ting, 1999. "Multiple equilibria and progressive taxation of labor income," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 97-103, October.
    10. Jang‐Ting Guo & Sharon G. Harrison, 2008. "Useful Government Spending and Macroeconomic (In)stability under Balanced‐Budget Rules," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 10(3), pages 383-397, June.
    11. James Banks & Richard Blundell & James Smith, 2000. "Wealth inequality in the United States and Great Britain," IFS Working Papers W00/20, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    12. Benhabib Jess & Farmer Roger E. A., 1994. "Indeterminacy and Increasing Returns," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 19-41, June.
    13. Guo, Jang-Ting & Harrison, Sharon G., 2004. "Balanced-budget rules and macroeconomic (in)stability," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 119(2), pages 357-363, December.
    14. Jang-Ting Guo, 2005. "Tax Policy Under Keeping Up with the Joneses and Imperfect Competition," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 6(1), pages 25-36, May.
    15. Dufourt, Frédéric & Lloyd-Braga, Teresa & Modesto, Leonor, 2008. "Indeterminacy, Bifurcations, And Unemployment Fluctuations," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(S1), pages 75-89, April.
    16. Kamiguchi, Akira & Tamai, Toshiki, 2011. "Can productive government spending be a source of equilibrium indeterminacy?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 1335-1340, May.
    17. Mark Weder, 2000. "Consumption Externalities, Production Externalities and Indeterminacy," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 435-453, November.
    18. Harald Uhlig & Lars Ljungqvist, 2000. "Tax Policy and Aggregate Demand Management under Catching Up with the Joneses," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 356-366, June.
    19. Aldo Barba & Massimo Pivetti, 2009. "Rising household debt: Its causes and macroeconomic implications--a long-period analysis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(1), pages 113-137, January.
    20. Rogerson, Richard, 1988. "Indivisible labor, lotteries and equilibrium," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 3-16, January.
    21. Jürgen Maurer & André Meier, 2008. "Smooth it Like the “Joneses?†Estimating Peer-Group Effects in Intertemporal Consumption Choice," MEA discussion paper series 08167, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    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. Xue, Jianpo & Yip, Chong K., 2014. "Factor substitution and taxation in a finance constrained economy," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 101-112.

    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. Lloyd-Braga, Teresa & Modesto, Leonor & Seegmuller, Thomas, 2014. "Market distortions and local indeterminacy: A general approach," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 216-247.
    2. Chen, Shu-Hua & Guo, Jang-Ting, 2014. "Progressive taxation and macroeconomic (in)stability with utility-generating government spending," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 174-183.
    3. Thomas Seegmuller & Leonor Modesto & Teresa Lloyd-Braga, 2008. "Market Imperfections and Endogenous Fluctuations," 2008 Meeting Papers 739, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Chen, Shu-Hua & Guo, Jang-Ting, 2013. "Progressive taxation and macroeconomic (In) stability with productive government spending," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 951-963.
    5. Kevin X.D. Huang & Qinglai Meng & Jianpo Xue, 2018. "Balanced‐Budget Rules and Aggregate Instability: The Role of Endogenous Capital Utilization," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(8), pages 1669-1709, December.
    6. Teresa Lloyd‐Braga & Leonor Modesto & Thomas Seegmuller, 2008. "Tax Rate Variability and Public Spending as Sources of Indeterminacy," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 10(3), pages 399-421, June.
    7. Juin‐Jen Chang & Jang‐Ting Guo & Jhy‐Yuan Shieh & Wei‐Neng Wang, 2015. "Sectoral Composition Of Government Spending And Macroeconomic (In)Stability," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(1), pages 23-33, January.
    8. Kevin X.D. Huang & Qinglai Meng & Jianpo Xue, 2019. "Capital Income Taxation and Aggregate Instability," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 19-00007, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    9. Mohanad Ismael, 2014. "Progressive income taxes and macroeconomic instability," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 10(2), pages 49-61.
    10. Abad, Nicolas & Lloyd-Braga, Teresa & Modesto, Leonor, 2020. "The failure of stabilization policy: Balanced-budget fiscal rules in the presence of incompressible public expenditures," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    11. Kevin x.d. Huang & Qinglai Meng & Jianpo Xue, 2019. "Capital Income Taxation and Aggregate Instability," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 19-00007, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    12. Guo, Jang-Ting & Lansing, Kevin J., 2002. "Fiscal Policy, Increasing Returns, And Endogenous Fluctuations," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(5), pages 633-664, November.
    13. Mohanad Ismael, 2010. "Progressive income taxes and macroeconomic instability," Documents de recherche 10-13, Centre d'Études des Politiques Économiques (EPEE), Université d'Evry Val d'Essonne.
    14. Xue, Jianpo & Yip, Chong K., 2014. "Factor substitution and taxation in a finance constrained economy," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 101-112.
    15. Dromel, Nicolas L. & Pintus, Patrick A., 2007. "Linearly progressive income taxes and stabilization," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 25-29, March.
    16. Fujio Takata, 2013. "Multiple Steady States under the Balanced Budget Rule- a Generalization," Discussion Papers 1310, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    17. Takeo Hori & Noritaka Maebayashi, 2013. "Indeterminacy and utility-generating government spending under balanced-budget fiscal policies," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 13-13, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    18. Patrick Pintus, 2004. "International Capital Mobility and Aggregate Volatility: the Case of Credit-Rationed Open Economies," Computing in Economics and Finance 2004 193, Society for Computational Economics.
    19. Matteo F. Ghilardi & Raffaele Rossi, 2014. "Aggregate Stability and Balanced‐Budget Rules," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(8), pages 1787-1809, December.
    20. Maxime Menuet & Alexandru Minea & Patrick Villieu, 2019. "Budget Rules, Distortionnary Taxes, and Aggregate Instability: A reappraisal," Working Papers hal-02153856, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    indeterminacy; consumption externalities; capital and labor income taxation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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

    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:iza:izadps:dp6876. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.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.