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Testing for tax smoothing in a general equilibrium model of growth

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  • Malley, Jim
  • Philippopoulos, Apostolis
  • Economides, George

Abstract

This paper constructs and formally tests a general equilibrium model of long-term growth and endogenous fiscal policy. In this model policymakers find it optimal to keep the income tax rate constant over time. Tax revenues finance public consumption and public production services, with the latter generating long-term growth. Surprisingly, despite its popularity amongst theorists, there have thus far been no formal econometric tests of this Barro-type general equilibrium model. We find that data from 22 OECD economies uniformly reject this model over the period 1960- 1996.
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  • Malley, Jim & Philippopoulos, Apostolis & Economides, George, 2002. "Testing for tax smoothing in a general equilibrium model of growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 301-315, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:18:y:2002:i:2:p:301-315
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    Cited by:

    1. Novales, Alfonso & Pérez, Rafaela & Ruiz, Jesus, 2014. "Optimal time-consistent fiscal policy under endogenous growth with elastic labor supply," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 398-412.
    2. Novales, Alfonso & Pérez, Rafaela & Ruiz, Jesús, 2014. "Optimal time-consistent fiscal policy in an endogenous growth economy with public consumption and capital," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 104-117.
    3. Jim Malley & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 1999. "Economic Growth And Endogenous Fiscal Policy: In Search Of A Data Consistent General Equilibrium Model," Working Papers 1999_18, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow, revised Jan 1998.
    4. George Economides & Apostolis Philippopoulos & Simon Price, 2002. "Elections, Fiscal Policy and Growth: Revisiting the Mechanism," CESifo Working Paper Series 691, CESifo.
    5. Economides, George & Philippopoulos, Apostolis & Price, Simon, 2003. "How elections affect fiscal policy and growth: revisiting the mechanism," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 777-792, November.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation

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