We investigate the time varying relation between hours and technology shocks using a structural business cycle model. We propose an RBC model with a Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) production function that allows for capital- and labor-augmenting technology shocks. We estimate the...

What determines the sustainability of sovereign debt? In this paper, we develop a model where myopic governments seek electoral popularity but can nevertheless commit credibly to service external debt. They do not default when they are poor because they would lose access to debt markets and be...

Este artículo estudia las consecuencias sobre el crecimiento y el bienestar de diversas políticas fiscales con y sin límites a la deuda pública. En la economía modelo, el gasto público puede tener dos papeles diferentes, bien como un factor en la función de producción, o bien...

In the following period, both the fiscal policy and the budgetary policy must be subordinated to the central objective of economic policy set by the Government Programme, for revival of economic growth to achieve the convergence criteria in order to continue and accelerate economic and financial...

This paper investigates how tax changes for different income groups affect aggregate economic activity. I construct a measure of who received (or paid for) tax changes in the postwar period using tax return data from NBER's TAXSIM. I aggregate each tax change by income group and state. Variation...

This paper analyzes the political economics of the composition of taxes. Taxes may be levied on income, or on expenditure, and the median voter is pivotal in the theoretical framework analyzed. As in Meltzer and Richard (1981) income taxes increase with inequality. Conversely expenditure taxes...

Governments are facing increasing scrutiny over debt and deficits following the worldwide recession and financial crisis which began in 2007. Additionally, policy makers are confronted with the growing realization that they face fiscal limits on the size of debt and deficits relative to GDP....

We estimate spillover effects of a fiscal shock in one member country in the euro area on outputs of the rest of the members, using a Global Vector Autoregression (GVAR) model. We compare the effects of a domestic fiscal shock with those of a similar size area-wide shock expressed as a weighted...

Research on Singapore's economic history has been complicated by the absence of economic data on pre-independence Singapore. This book aims to fill the gap by presenting a time-series of historical GDP estimates for the periods 1900–39 and 1950–60. The new data presented in the...

Recent dissatisfaction with the impact of expenditure stimulus on economic activity in the United States, along with the results of academic research, have once again raised questions about the effectiveness of fiscal stimulus policies and about whether stimulus to a recessionary economy should...