This paper considers a central bank with a zero inflation target and a fiscal authority with a differing objective. Examples using calibrated models explore the consequences of the fiscal authority being aware of the central bank's objective. Situations in which the fiscal authority is able to...

This paper presents a test of Wagner's Law for the OECD countries using data from 1960 to 1995. Unlike other analyses of Wagner's Law, explicit allowance is made in the paper for the effect of changes in the age distribution of the population on public spending. The results show that the...

We use a model of intertemporal tax smoothing to examine long run data on fiscal policy in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. We find that the intertemporal model provides a good description of tax policy for the United States but is rejected for Australia and for the UK.

This paper examines the operation of fiscal policy under incomplete information when the central bank sets the stance of monetary policy so as to achieve a zero inflation target. The fiscal authority is assumed to aim to achieve a target level for output and a zero level of public debt. The best...

India has a long history of running fiscal deficits. Two broad considerations motivate a government to run a deficit: tax smoothing and tax tilting. This paper tests a version of Barro's tax smoothing model, using Indian data for the period 1951-52 to 1966-97. The empirical results indicate that...

This paper suggest that the decomposition of the redistributive effect of taxation into vertical, horizontal, and re-ranking components is best achieved in terms of the welfare premium from progression, using hte abbreviated social welfare function defined in terms of the Gini measure of...

Tax models come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the nature of the policy issues examined. The policy questions may relate to specific problems, concerning perhaps the revenue implications of a particular tax, or they may involve an extensive analysis of the cost and redistributice effects...

This paper presents new evidence on the ability of Peacock and Wiseman's displacement hypothesis to explain temporal increases in the ratio of government expenditure to GDP in the United Kingdom. Using univariate modelling techniques that are robust to structural changes in the underlying data...

This paper considers some implications for macroeconomic policy in an open economy if-as appears highly probable-international flows of capital are now significantly sensitive to changes in income, and to expected changes in income, in different countries. This assumption is in contrast to that...

This paper examines data on Australian fiscal policy going back to federation to answer two question. First, has the conduct of Australian fiscal policy been consistent with the government's intertemporal budget constraint? Second, have there been major structural changes in the conduct of...