We propose and apply a new approach for analyzing the effects of fiscal policyusing vector autoregressions. Unlike most of the previous literature this approachdoes not require that the contemporaneous reaction of some variables to fiscalpolicy shocks be set to zero or need additional...

Unanimous voting as the fundamental procedural source of political legitimacy grants vetopower to each individual. We present an axiomatic characterization of a class of biddingprocesses to spell out the underlying egalitarian values for collective projects of a“productive state”. At heart...

Scotchmer and Wooders (1987) show that efficient clubs are homogeneouswhen consumers are divisible in Berglas’s (1976) anonymouscrowding model. However, if consumers are not divisible or ifclubs have multiple facilities with economies of scope, mixed clubs areefficient. In such a model, we...

We consider a society composed of two regions. Each of them pro-vides a public good whose benefits reach beyond local boundaries.In case of decentralization, taxes collected by members of a regionare spent only on that region's public good. In case of centralization, tax receipts from the two...

BEA’s national economic statistics provide a comprehensive view of U.S. production, consumption, investment, exports and imports, and income and saving. These statistics are best known by summary measures such as gross domestic product (GDP), corporate profits, personal income and spending,...

We introduce a model of redistributive income taxation and public expenditure. Thisjoint treatment permits analyzing the interdependencies between the two policies: onecannot be chosen independently of the other. Empirical evidence reveals that partisanconfrontation essentially falls on...

The output multiplier turns negative before a deficit spending program expires.We show the generality of this unpleasant finding for the standard real business cyclemodel. We then calibrate an extended model for the US and demonstrate how fiscalstimulus slows down economic recovery from...

This paper analyses the shifting balance between public sector and privatesector welfare provision in the United Kingdom over the past two decades. Fivesectors – education, health, personal social services, housing, and incomemaintenance and social security – are examined over three time...

We examine the interactions between public and private sector wages per employee inOECD countries. The growth of public sector wages and of public sector employmentpositively affects the growth of private sector wages. Moreover, total factor productivity, theunemployment rate and the degree of...

When a deficit occurs in the funding of collective goods, it is usually covered by raising theamount of taxes or by rationing the supply of the goods. This article compares the efficiencyof these institutions. We report the results of a 2x2 experiment based on a game in the firststage of which...