In a dynamic model of local government spending, this paper examines both long-run and short-run effects of permanent federal grant changes on local public investment and recurrent expenditures. It also utilizes the Judd approach to quantify the short-run effects of temporary (current and...

The paper shows that income inequality may theoretically lead to higher economic growth if public consumption enters the utility function. Empirically, baseline estimations and a sensitivity analysis show that income inequality is positively, and most of the time significantly, associated with...

In an optimal growth model with foreign aid, foreign borrowing, and endogenous leisure-and-consumption choices, it is shown that a permanent rise in foreign aid reduces long-run capital accumulation and labor supply, increases long-run consumption, and has no effect on long-run foreign borrowing.

While this paper emphasizes the analytical ambiguity of the relationship between savings and income inequality, the empirical examination renders weak support for a negative association between them. However, this relationship is not very robust. Subsamples of OECD countries and Asian countries...

The optimal inflation tax is reexamined in the framework of dynamic second best economy populated by individuals with inflation aversion. A simple formula for the optimal inflation rate is derived. Different from the literature, it is shown that if the marginal excess burden of other distorting...

This paper examines health care reform in urban and rural China. Before health care reform, Chinese health service facilities were run entirely by the state and basically they performed a social welfare function. This health care system greatly improved the population health conditions but many...