FIXED COSTS, THE BALANCED-BUDGET MULTIPLIER AND WELFARE

In a two-sector model, where one of the sectors is monopolistically competitive and subject to increasing returns to scale but without love for variety, we analyze the effects of a balanced budget fiscal expansion. Such an expansion could increase the welfare of the representative individual, if elasticities of substitution in production and consumption are low. A reorganization of production takes place--increasing returns enabling a rise in real income.