IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/zewdip/13012.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Using surveys of business perceptions as a guide to growth-enhancing fiscal reforms

Author

Listed:
  • Misch, Florian
  • Gemmell, Norman
  • Kneller, Richard

Abstract

This paper assesses the merits of using surveys of business perceptions of growth constraints as a guide to growth-enhancing fiscal policy reforms. Using endogenous growth models in which the government levies an income tax to provide public inputs to the production of private firms, the paper demonstrates that business perceptions of growth constraints are subject to systematic biases except when firms compare different types of public services or different types of public capital. In particular firms can be expected to systematically over-estimate the growth-enhancing effects of lower tax rates, and under-estimate the growth-enhancing effects of greater provision of public capital. It is then shown that these theoretical predictions regarding how firms rank constraints correspond closely to the observed ranking of constraints by firms in the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys.

Suggested Citation

  • Misch, Florian & Gemmell, Norman & Kneller, Richard, 2013. "Using surveys of business perceptions as a guide to growth-enhancing fiscal reforms," ZEW Discussion Papers 13-012, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:13012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/71070/1/739698087.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Florian Misch & Norman Gemmell & Richard Kneller, 2013. "Growth and Welfare Maximization in Models of Public Finance and Endogenous Growth," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 15(6), pages 939-967, December.
    2. Justin Yifu Lin & Boris Pleskovic, 2009. "Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics--Global 2008 : Private Sector and Development," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13521.
    3. Goncalo Monteiro & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2008. "The composition of productive government expenditure," Indian Growth and Development Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 1(1), pages 57-83, April.
    4. John Creedy & Shuyun May Li & Solmaz Moslehi, 2008. "The Composition of Government Expenditure in an Overlapping Generations Model," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1043, The University of Melbourne.
    5. 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.
    6. Semmler, Willi & Greiner, Alfred & Diallo, Bobo & Rezai, Armon & Rajaram, Anand, 2007. "Fiscal policy, public expenditure composition, and growth theory and empirics," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4405, The World Bank.
    7. Avinash Dixit, 2007. "Evaluating Recipes for Development Success," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 22(2), pages 131-157, June.
    8. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Swaroop, Vinaya & Heng-fu, Zou, 1996. "The composition of public expenditure and economic growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 313-344, April.
    9. Sugata Ghosh & Udayan Roy, 2004. "Fiscal policy, long-run growth, and welfare in a stock-flow model of public goods," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 37(3), pages 742-756, August.
    10. Tsoukis, Chris & Miller, Nigel J., 2003. "Public services and endogenous growth," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 297-307, April.
    11. Misch Florian & Gemmell Norman & Kneller Richard, 2010. "Binding Constraints and Second-Best Strategies in Endogenous Growth Models with Public Finance," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 1(2), pages 1-37, December.
    12. Ricardo Hausmann & Bailey Klinger & Rodrigo Wagner, 2008. "Doing Growth Diagnostics in Practice: A 'Mindbook'," Growth Lab Working Papers 19, Harvard's Growth Lab.
    13. repec:bla:scandj:v:95:y:1993:i:4:p:607-25 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Jonathan Temple, 1999. "The New Growth Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 112-156, March.
    15. Gelb, Alan & Ramachandran, Vijaya & Shah, Manju Kedia & Turner, Ginger, 2007. "What matters to African firms ? the relevance of perceptions data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4446, The World Bank.
    16. Hallward-Driemeier, Mary & Aterido, Reyes, 2009. "Comparing Apples with....Apples : how to make (more) sense of subjective rankings of constraints to business," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5054, The World Bank.
    17. Edwards, Lawrence & Balchin, Neil, 2008. "Trade related business climate and manufacturing export performance in Africa: A firm-level analysis," MPRA Paper 32863, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    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. Era Dabla-Norris & Mark Gradstein & Fedor Miryugin & Florian Misch, 2019. "Productivity and Tax Evasion," CESifo Working Paper Series 8002, CESifo.
    2. Klaus Friesenbichler & Oliver Fritz & Werner Hölzl & Gerhard Streicher & Florian Misch & Mustafa Yeter, 2014. "The Efficiency of EU Public Administration in Helping Firms Grow," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 50931.
    3. Friesenbichler, Klaus & Fritz, Oliver & Hölzl, Werner & Misch, Florian & Streicher, Gerhard & Yeter, Mustafa, 2014. "The efficiency of EU public administration in helping firms grow: Final report," ZEW Expertises, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, number 111450.

    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. Florian Misch & Norman Gemmell & Richard Kneller, 2013. "Growth and Welfare Maximization in Models of Public Finance and Endogenous Growth," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 15(6), pages 939-967, December.
    2. 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.
    3. Bournakis, Ioannis & Tsoukis, Christopher, 2016. "Government size, institutions, and export performance among OECD economies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 37-47.
    4. 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.
    5. Misch Florian & Gemmell Norman & Kneller Richard, 2010. "Binding Constraints and Second-Best Strategies in Endogenous Growth Models with Public Finance," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 1(2), pages 1-37, December.
    6. Florian Misch & Norman Gemmell & Richard Kneller, 2008. "Business Perceptions, Fiscal Policy and Growth," Discussion Papers 08/10, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    7. Norman Gemmell & Richard Kneller & Ismael Sanz, 2016. "Does the Composition of Government Expenditure Matter for Long-Run GDP Levels?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(4), pages 522-547, August.
    8. Zhang, Lifeng & Ru, Yucong & Li, Jingkui, 2016. "Optimal tax structure and public expenditure composition in a simple model of endogenous growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 352-360.
    9. Norman Gemmell & Richard Kneller & Ismael Sanz, 2016. "Does the Composition of Government Expenditure Matter for Long-Run GDP Levels?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(4), pages 522-547, August.
    10. Benos, Nikos, 2009. "Fiscal policy and economic growth: empirical evidence from EU countries," MPRA Paper 19174, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Misch, Florian & Gemmell, Norman & Kneller, Richard Anthony, 2011. "Fiscal policy and growth with complementarities and constraints on government," ZEW Discussion Papers 11-018, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    12. Chiara DEL BO, 2009. "Recent advances in public investment, fiscal policy and growth," Departmental Working Papers 2009-25, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    13. Pierre‐Richard Agénor, 2011. "Schooling and Public Capital in a Model of Endogenous Growth," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 78(309), pages 108-132, January.
    14. Yifang Wan & Yunxian Chen, 2022. "China’s Foreign Aid and Sustainable Growth of Recipient Countries: Mechanism and Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-17, August.
    15. Chandril Bhattacharyya, 2016. "A note on endogenous growth with public capital," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(4), pages 2506-2518.
    16. Capolupo, Rosa, 2009. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-72.
    17. Xiaodong Chen & Haoming Mi & Peng Zhou, 2024. "Whether to decentralize and how to decentralize? The optimal fiscal federalism in an endogenous growth model," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(29), pages 3499-3516, June.
    18. Simon Wiederhold, 2012. "The Role of Public Procurement in Innovation: Theory and Empirical Evidence," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 43.
    19. Andreas Irmen & Johanna Kuehnel, 2009. "Productive Government Expenditure And Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 692-733, September.
    20. Skrypnik, D., 2024. "Infrastructure and economic growth in the context of the evolutionary theory of economic policy," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 117-142.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic Growth; Fiscal Policy; Imperfectly Informed Governments; Business Perceptions; Diagnostics; Subjective Data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    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:zbw:zewdip:13012. 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/zemande.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.