I analyze the effects of tax policy changes on US Total Factor Productivity. VAR estimates show that permanent and exogenous tax increases have strong, permanent, and negative effects on TFP which represent about 80% of change in output following the tax increase. I then build a DSGE model which...

This paper examines the macroeconomic effects of environmental tax reform in a growing economy. A model of endogenous growth based on human capital accumulation is used to simulate numerically the growth effects of different environmental tax reforms and calculate their impact on welfare in the...

This paper investigates the dynamic consequences of demographic change and various pension reform scenarios for Austria. The analysis is based on a computable overlapping-generations model with life-cycle labor supply, savings, and search unemployment. The public sector is decomposed into...

It has been believed that a social security system (SSS) is harmful to economic growth. However, it has been recognized recently that a SSS can encourage economic growth if the engine of the growth is human-capital accumulation. This paper uses an analytical model à la Uzawa/Lucas to examine...

We develop a geographic growth model where nominal wages are allowed to diverge between the two considered countries. Removing the standard assumption entailing that both countries always own a traditional sector, we argue that, as trade gets freer, the traditional sector of one country might...

Market imperfections may lead to underinvestment in dynamic general equilibrium models. An interesting but unexplored question is whether policy interventions which attenuate underinvestment gaps necessarily imply that consumption will initially decline. By employing a calibrated version of a...

This paper studies the long-run impact of policies aimed at fostering gender equality on economic growth in Brazil. The first part provides a brief review of gender issues in the country. The second part presents a gender-based, three-period OLG model that accounts for women’s time allocation...

This paper studies the efficient taxation of factor income in infinite-lived models with elastic fertility choices. Two models are considered, one with physical capital only, and one with physical and human capital. In the model with physical capital only, capital income should be subsidized,...

This paper analyses a model of overlapping generations in which agents who are not in the labor market are unable to borrow. An increase in a fully funded pension raises aggregate savings since private savings are not crowded out one-for-one. Labor force participation is determined endogenously,...

In an endogenous growth model where the fiscal authority cannot commit to policy decisions beyond the current period, we explore the time-consistent optimal choice for two policy instruments: the income tax rate and the split of government spending between utility bearing consumption and...