We study optimal capital income taxation with a Ramsey problem and relate this optimal taxation problem to the question that has been asked in the asset pricing literature, which is why the risk free interest rate is too low. We show that the Ramsey planner chooses the optimal level of capital...

This paper examines the dynamic and long run effects of a shift from income taxes to consumption taxes in a growing small open economy. We extend the small open economy Solow-Swan model by introducing a government sector that maintains both a balanced budget and expenditure at a constant...

Bad policies (i.e., policies harmful to private producers such as excessive taxation, arbitrary confiscation, and negligence of pubic goods) are observed in quite a few countries. These countries tend to have autocratic regimes.I explore a reason why bad policies may benefit autocrats.I present...

The paper studies optimal redistributive taxation when the government cannot commit the future policy. The framework used is one in which individuals can revise their consumption-savings decisions slightly more often than the government can change tax policy.

The paper gives a systematic treatment of equivalent tax systems within an intertemporal framework.

This paper investigates how the feasibility of migration affects governments' optimal fiscal policies. We assume that households migrate toward economies where their welfare is higher, governments choose taxes and public expenditures to maximize a weighted sum of the households' welfare, welfare...

The decision to invest in human capital is introduced into a home production economy with fiscal policy distortions where balanced growth is achieved through Harrod-neutral, labor-augmenting technology spillovers into home production. In comparison with home production economies that abstract...

What is the relation between infrequent price adjustment and the dynamic response of the aggregate price level to monetary shocks? The answer to this question ranges from a one-to-one link (Calvo, 1983) to no connection whatsoever (Caplin and Spulber, 1987). The purpose of this paper is to...

We lay out a tractable model for fiscal and monetary policy analysis in a currency union, and analyze its implications for the optimal design of such policies. Monetary policy is conducted by a common central bank, which sets the interest rate for the union as a whole. Fiscal policy is...