The effect of debt on private investment is theoretically undetermined. Indeed, according to the theory, the relation between debt and private investment can either be negative (debt overhang) or positive (accelerator effect on economic growth, hence on private investment). Our study consists in...

The euro area as a whole has experienced a marked downward trend in inflation over the past decades and, concomitantly, a protracted period of depressed activity. Can permanent and gradual shifts in monetary policy be held responsible for these dynamics? To answer this question, we embed...

The demographic structure of a country influences economic activity. The "second dividend" modifies growth. Accordingly, in general equilibrium, the second dividend and the demographic structure are interrelated. This paper aims at assessing empirically the "second dividend" in a dynamic,...

A rising share of renewables in the energy mix push es up the average price of energy - and so does a carbon tax. However the former bolsters the accumulation of capital whereas the latter, if fully recycled, does not. Thus, in general equilibrium, the effects on growth and intertemporal welfare...

Social planners in most western countries will be facing two long-lasting challenges in the next years: energy transition and fiscal consolidation. One problem is that governments might consider that implementing an energy transition could get i n the way of achieving a fiscal consolidation. If...

This paper analyses the effects of transitory increases in government spending when public debt is used as liquidity by the private sector. Aggregate shocks are introduced into an incomplete-market economy where heterogenous, infitely-lived households face occasionally binding borrowing...

The 2007-2009 crisis has led to a return of Keynesian analyses and policies. The paper analyses the contradictions between a structural crisis, the implementation at a very large scale of Keynesian policies and the denial to undermine financial capitalism. The crisis has led the French...

This paper studies the impact of the progressivity of income and inheritance tax on wealth inequality in France. By switching to a proportional tax system for each type of tax, we find that income-tax progressivity is more effective than inheritance-tax progressivity in reducing wealth...

In many poor countries, the problem is not that governments do not invest, but that these investments do not create productive capital. So, the cost of public investments does not correspond to the value of the capital stocks. In this paper, we propose an original non parametric approach to...