IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/rwirep/113.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Capital Taxation, Long-run Growth, and Bequests

Author

Listed:
  • Kunze, Lars

Abstract

It has been shown that higher capital taxes can have a growth-enhancing effect when combined with a revenue-compensating cut in wage taxes (Uhlig and Yanagawa 1996; European Economic Review 40, 1521-1540) or with an expansion in productivity-increasing public services (Rivas 2003; European Economic Review 47, 477-503). The present paper demonstrates that these results critically hinge on the existence of a bequest motive. It is shown that a wage-tax cut is no longer growth-enhancing when bequests are operative. By way of contrast, increasing productive public services may well boost growth. The theoretical findings are illustrated by numerical simulations based on US data.

Suggested Citation

  • Kunze, Lars, 2009. "Capital Taxation, Long-run Growth, and Bequests," Ruhr Economic Papers 113, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:113
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/29932/1/60342368X.PDF
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    2. Gramlich, Edward M, 1994. "Infrastructure Investment: A Review Essay," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(3), pages 1176-1196, September.
    3. Rivas, Luis A., 2003. "Income taxes, spending composition and long-run growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 477-503, June.
    4. Lambrecht, Stephane & Michel, Philippe & Vidal, Jean-Pierre, 2005. "Public pensions and growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 1261-1281, July.
    5. Turnovsky, Stephen J, 2004. "The Transitional Dynamics of Fiscal Policy: Long-Run Capital Accumulation and Growth," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(5), pages 883-910, October.
    6. Tomes, Nigel, 1981. "The Family, Inheritance, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Inequality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 928-958, October.
    7. Rebelo, Sergio, 1991. "Long-Run Policy Analysis and Long-Run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 500-521, June.
    8. Michel, Philippe & Thibault, Emmanuel & Vidal, Jean-Pierre, 2006. "Intergenerational altruism and neoclassical growth models," Handbook on the Economics of Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism, in: S. Kolm & Jean Mercier Ythier (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 15, pages 1055-1106, Elsevier.
    9. Easterly, William & Rebelo, Sergio, 1993. "Fiscal policy and economic growth: An empirical investigation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 417-458, December.
    10. Turnovsky, Stephen J., 1997. "Fiscal Policy In A Growing Economy With Public Capital," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(3), pages 615-639, September.
    11. Robert J. Barro & Xavier Sala-I-Martin, 1992. "Public Finance in Models of Economic Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(4), pages 645-661.
    12. N. Gregory Mankiw, 2000. "The Savers-Spenders Theory of Fiscal Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 120-125, May.
    13. Minea, Alexandru, 2008. "The Role of Public Spending in the Growth Theory Evolution," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 5(2), pages 99-120, June.
    14. Hendricks, Lutz, 1999. "Taxation and long-run growth1," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 411-434, April.
    15. Ihori, Toshihiro, 1997. "Taxes on Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 509-522, July.
    16. Thierry Brechet & Stephane Lambrecht, 2009. "Family Altruism with Renewable Resource and Population Growth," Mathematical Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 60-78.
    17. Ho, Wai-Hong & Wang, Yong, 2007. "Factor income taxation and growth under asymmetric information," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 775-789, April.
    18. Aschauer, David Alan, 1989. "Is public expenditure productive?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 177-200, March.
    19. Chamley, Christophe, 1986. "Optimal Taxation of Capital Income in General Equilibrium with Infinite Lives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 607-622, May.
    20. Glomm, Gerhard & Ravikumar, B, 1992. "Public versus Private Investment in Human Capital Endogenous Growth and Income Inequality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(4), pages 818-834, August.
    21. Uhlig, Harald & Yanagawa, Noriyuki, 1996. "Increasing the capital income tax may lead to faster growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1521-1540, November.
    22. Laitner, John & Juster, F Thomas, 1996. "New Evidence on Altruism: A Study of TIAA-CREF Retirees," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 893-908, September.
    23. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    24. Stéphane Lambrecht & Philippe Michel & Emmanuel Thibault, 2006. "Capital Accumulation and Fiscal Policy in an OLG Model with Family Altruism," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 8(3), pages 465-486, August.
    25. Morrison, Catherine J & Schwartz, Amy Ellen, 1996. "State Infrastructure and Productive Performance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1095-1111, December.
    26. Hendricks, Lutz, "undated". "Taxation and Long-Run Growth," Working Papers 96/2, Arizona State University, Department of Economics.
    27. Agell, Jonas & Lindh, Thomas & Ohlsson, Henry, 1997. "Growth and the public sector: A critical review essay," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 33-52, February.
    28. Caballe, Jordi, 1998. "Growth Effects of Taxation under Altruism and Low Elasticity of Intertemporal Substitution," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(446), pages 92-104, January.
    29. Judd, Kenneth L., 1985. "Redistributive taxation in a simple perfect foresight model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 59-83, October.
    30. Evans, Paul & Karras, Georgios, 1994. "Are Government Activities Productive? Evidence from a Panel of U.S. States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(1), pages 1-11, February.
    31. Andreoni, James, 1989. "Giving with Impure Altruism: Applications to Charity and Ricardian Equivalence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(6), pages 1447-1458, December.
    32. Dalgaard, Carl-Johan & Jensen, Martin Kaae, 2009. "Life-cycle savings, bequest, and a diminishing impact of scale on growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1639-1647, September.
    33. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1990. "Supply-Side Economics: An Analytical Review," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(2), pages 293-316, April.
    34. Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Lawrence H. Summers, 1986. "The Contribution of Intergenerational Transfers to Total Wealth: A Reply," NBER Working Papers 1827, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    35. Gerhard Glomm & B. Ravikumar, 1998. "Flat-Rate Taxes, Government Spending on Education, and Growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 1(1), pages 306-325, January.
    36. Becker, Gary S & Tomes, Nigel, 1979. "An Equilibrium Theory of the Distribution of Income and Intergenerational Mobility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1153-1189, December.
    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. Maebayashi, Noritaka, 2018. "Is an unfunded social security system good or bad for growth? A theoretical analysis of social security systems financed by VAT," MPRA Paper 90881, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Noritaka Maebayashi, 2020. "Is an unfunded social security system good or bad for growth? A theoretical analysis of social security systems financed by VAT," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(4), pages 1069-1104, August.
    3. Lars Kunze & Christiane Schuppert, 2010. "Financing social security by taxing capital income: A bad idea?," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 66(3), pages 243-262, September.
    4. Kunze, Lars, 2014. "Life expectancy and economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 54-65.

    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. Lars Kunze, 2009. "Capital Taxation, Long-run Growth, and Bequests," Ruhr Economic Papers 0113, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    2. repec:zbw:rwirep:0113 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Rivas, Luis A., 2003. "Income taxes, spending composition and long-run growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 477-503, June.
    4. Escobar-Posada, Rolando A. & Monteiro, Goncalo, 2015. "Long-run growth and welfare in a two sector endogenous growth model with productive and non-productive government expenditure," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 218-234.
    5. Ho, Wai-Hong & Wang, Yong, 2007. "Factor income taxation and growth under asymmetric information," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3-4), pages 775-789, April.
    6. Minea, Alexandru, 2008. "The Role of Public Spending in the Growth Theory Evolution," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 5(2), pages 99-120, June.
    7. Silvia Bertarelli, 2006. "Public capital and growth," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 361-398.
    8. Marrero, Gustavo A. & Novales, Alfonso, 2005. "Growth and welfare: Distorting versus non-distorting taxes," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 403-433, September.
    9. Bishnu, Monisankar & Ghate, Chetan & Gopalakrishnan, Pawan, 2016. "Factor income taxation, growth, and investment specific technological change," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 133-152.
    10. Ho, Wai-Hong & Wang, Yong, 2009. "Capital Income Taxation Revisited: The Role of Information Asymmetry in the Credit Market," MPRA Paper 17040, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Chen, Been-Lon, 2007. "Factor taxation and labor supply in a dynamic one-sector growth model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 3941-3964, December.
    12. Marrero, Gustavo A. & Novales, Alfonso, 2007. "Income taxes, public investment and welfare in a growing economy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(10), pages 3348-3369, October.
    13. Dimitrios Paparas & Christian Richter, 2015. "Fiscal policy and economic growth: Empirical evidence from the European Union," Working Papers 2015.06, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    14. Dimitrios PAPARAS & Christian RICHTER & Alexandros PAPARAS, 2015. "Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth, Empirical Evidence in European Union," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 2(4), pages 239-268, December.
    15. Oscar Afonso & Sara Monteiro & Maria Thompson, 2014. "Innovation Economy, Productive Public Expenditure and Economic Growth," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(4), pages 671-689, November.
    16. Marie-Ange VEGANZONES-VAROUDAKIS, 2000. "Infrastructures, investissement et croissance : un bilan de dix années de recherches," Working Papers 200007, CERDI.
    17. Bishnu, Monisankar & Ghate, Chetan & Gopalakrishnan, Pawan, 2011. "Distortionary Taxes and Public Investment in a Model of Endogenous Investment Specific Technological Change," MPRA Paper 34111, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Pelloni, Alessandra & Waldmann, Robert, 2000. "Can waste improve welfare?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 45-79, July.
    19. Kunze, Lars, 2014. "Life expectancy and economic growth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 54-65.
    20. Eleftherios Goulas & Athina Zervoyianni, 2012. "Growth, Deficits and Uncertainty in a Panel of 28 Countries," Working Paper series 52_12, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    21. Mr. Hyun Park, 2006. "Expenditure Composition and Distortionary Tax for Equitable Economic Growth," IMF Working Papers 2006/165, International Monetary Fund.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital income taxation; public spending; overlapping generations; growth; family altruism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    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:zbw:rwirep:113. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rwiesde.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.