Ramsey income taxation in a small open economy with trade in capital goods

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenn-Hong Tang
Keyword(s):  
Open Economy ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Optimal Taxation ◽  
Small Open Economy ◽  
Labor Income ◽  
Closed Economy ◽  
Capital Income ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Optimal Capital ◽  
Investment Goods

Abstract In this paper, the optimal taxation problem in a small open economy with international trade in capital or investment goods is investigated. The monopolistic power of a small open economy over the terms of trade causes distortions in consumption and investment. The results suggest that due to the external distortion in investment, the long-run optimal capital income tax could be positive under the baseline calibration, and it is increasing in the degree of investment openness and decreasing in the elasticity of substitution between domestic and foreign goods. The long-run optimal labor income tax exhibits the opposite relationships with the openness and elasticity parameters. During the course of business cycles, the fluctuations in the external distortions cause the optimal labor income tax to be more volatile and the optimal capital income tax to be less volatile than their closed-economy counterparts.

Does the Open Economy Assumption Really Mean That Labor Bears the Burden of a Capital Income Tax?

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane G Gravelle ◽  
Kent A. Smetters
Keyword(s):  
Open Economy ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Incidence ◽  
Closed Economy ◽  
Capital Income ◽  
Economy Model ◽  
Conventional View ◽  
Foreign Products ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Domestic Capital

Abstract The conventional view holds that domestic labor, not domestic capital, bears most of the long-run burden of a corporate income tax in an open economy due to the ability of capital to move across borders. This result assumes that domestic and foreign products (as well as investments) are perfect substitutes. This paper includes imperfect product substitution within a multi-sector open-economy model, and shows that much of the burden may fall on capital. To be sure, if savings falls sufficiently, much of the burden shifts to labor, but this fact also holds in a closed economy. Hence, the debate about tax incidence must focus more on the savings response and less on whether an economy is open or closed.

scholarly journals Taxing Capital? Not a Bad Idea After All!

2009 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Conesa ◽  
Sagiri Kitao ◽  
Dirk Krueger
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Labor Income ◽  
Income Shocks ◽  
Capital Income ◽  
Overlapping Generations Model ◽  
Cycle Structure ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Average Household Income ◽  
Optimal Capital

We quantitatively characterize the optimal capital and labor income tax in an overlapping generations model with idiosyncratic, uninsurable income shocks and permanent productivity differences of households. The optimal capital income tax rate is significantly positive at 36 percent. The optimal progressive labor income tax is, roughly, a flat tax of 23 percent with a deduction of $7,200 (relative to average household income of $42,000). The high optimal capital income tax is mainly driven by the life-cycle structure of the model, whereas the optimal progressivity of the labor income tax is attributable to the insurance and redistribution role of the tax system. (JEL E13, H21, H24, H25)

scholarly journals Structural Changes in Investment and the Waning Power of Monetary Policy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Bloesch ◽  
Jacob P. Weber
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Open Economy ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Small Open Economy ◽  
Value Added ◽  
New Keynesian ◽  
Secular Change ◽  
Labor Income ◽  
Labor Earnings ◽  
Investment Goods

We argue that secular change in both the production and composition of investment goods has weakened private investment's role in the transmission of monetary policy to labor earnings and consumption. We show analytically that fluctuations in the production of investment goods amplify the response of consumption to monetary policy shocks by varying labor income for hand-to-mouth agents. We document three secular changes that weaken this channel: (i) labor's share of value added in investment goods production has declined, (ii) the import share of investment goods has risen, and (iii) the composition of investment has shifted towards components that are less responsive to monetary policy. A small open economy, two agent New Keynesian model calibrated to match these facts implies a 38% and 26% weaker response of labor income and aggregate consumption, respectively, to real interest rate shocks in a 2010's economy relative to a 1960's economy.

scholarly journals A UNIFIED FRAMEWORK FOR OPTIMAL TAXATION WITH UNDIVERSIFIABLE RISK

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Vasia Panousi ◽  
Catarina Reis
Keyword(s):  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Optimal Taxation ◽  
Labor Income ◽  
Capital Income ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Income Risk ◽  
Labor Income Risk ◽  
Capital Tax ◽  
Optimal Capital ◽  
Uninsurable Risk

This paper considers a model of linear capital taxation for an economy where capital and labor income are subject to idiosyncratic uninsurable risk. To keep the model tractable, we assume that investment decisions are made before uncertainty is realized, so that the realization of the capital and labor income shocks only affects current consumption. In this setting, we are able to jointly analyze capital and labor income risk and derive analytical results regarding the optimal taxation of capital. We find that the optimal capital tax is positive in the long run if there is only capital income risk. The reason for this is that the capital tax provides insurance against capital income risk. Furthermore, for high levels of risk, increasing the capital tax may actually induce capital accumulation. On the other hand, if there is only labor income risk, the optimal capital tax is zero. The sign of the optimal tax can only be negative if the two types of risk are negatively correlated and labor income risk is large enough.

Optimal capital-income taxation in a model with credit frictions

2014 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salem Abo-Zaid
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Income Taxation ◽  
Capital Income ◽  
Capital Income Taxation ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Redistributive Taxation ◽  
Optimal Capital ◽  
Credit Frictions ◽  
The Government

AbstractThe optimality of the long-run capital-income tax rate is revisited in a simple neoclassical growth model with credit frictions. Firms pay their factors of production in advance, which requires borrowing at the beginning of the period. Borrowing, in turn, is constrained by the value of collateral that they own at the beginning of the period, leading to inefficiently low amounts of capital and labor. In this environment, the optimal capital-income tax in the steady state is non zero. Specifically, the quantitative analyses show that the capital-income tax is negative and, therefore, the distortions stemming from the credit friction are offset by subsidizing capital. However, when the government cannot distinguish between capital-income and profits, the capital-income tax is positive as the government levies the same tax rate on both sources of income. These results stand in contrast to the celebrated result of zero capital-income taxation of Judd (Judd, K. 1985. “Redistributive Taxation in a Simple Perfect Foresight Model.”

scholarly journals Why Child Allowances Fail to Solve the Pension Problem of Aging Societies

Economies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Peter J. Stauvermann ◽  
Frank Wernitz
Keyword(s):  
Open Economy ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Small Open Economy ◽  
Closed Economy ◽  
Closed Economies ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Child Allowances ◽  
Aging Societies ◽  
Pension Benefits

The aim of the paper is to investigate how child allowances affect population growth and pension benefits of pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension systems in small open and closed economies. We apply an overlapping-generations (OLG) model in its canonical form, where we consider endogenous fertility and growth generated by human capital accumulation. From the analysis, we conclude that in a small open economy, child allowances increase the number of children, yet decrease pension benefits over the long run. If we consider a closed economy, the effect of child allowances on fertility is ambiguous and remains negative on pension benefits over the long run.

The long-run stability of a small, open economy under crawling peg regime

2002 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-78
Author(s):  
S. Çiftçioğlu
Keyword(s):  
Exchange Rate ◽  
Open Economy ◽  
Risk Premium ◽  
Small Open Economy ◽  
Exchange Rate Policy ◽  
Price Stability ◽  
Output Stability ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Exchange Rate ◽  
The Impact

The paper analyses the long-run (steady-state) output and price stability of a small, open economy which adopts a “crawling-peg” type of exchange-rate regime in the presence of various kinds of random shocks. Analytical and simulation results suggest that with the exception of money demand shocks, an exchange rate policy which involves a relatively higher rate of indexation of the exchange rate to price level is likely to lead to the worsening of price stability for all types of shocks. On the other hand, the impact of adopting such a policy on output stability depends on the type of the shock; for policy shocks to the exchange rate and shocks to output demand, output stability is worsened whereas for the shocks to risk premium of domestic assets, supply price of domestic output and the wage rate, better output stability is achieved in the long run.

HABIT FORMATION AND GOVERNMENT SPENDING IN A SMALL OPEN ECONOMY

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cem Karayalçin
Keyword(s):  
Fiscal Policy ◽  
General Equilibrium ◽  
Current Account ◽  
Open Economy ◽  
Equilibrium Model ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Time Preference ◽  
Small Open Economy ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Fiscal Shocks

The paper studies the effects of an expansionary fiscal policy in a general equilibrium model of a small open economy. Households are assumed to possess habit-forming, endogenous rates of time preference. In response to fiscal shocks, the model generates cyclical endogenous persistence and procyclical time paths for consumption, employment, and investment, as well as a countercyclical path for the current account. Furthermore, fiscal shocks are shown to have positive long-run effects on output and negative long-run effects on consumption.

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