Organizational learning and optimal fiscal and monetary policy

We study optimal fiscal and monetary policy in a Ramsey economy where firms learn from their production experience and incur a real cost in changing their prices. Two central results emerge from our study. First, optimal tax policy is counter-cyclical – tax rates fall during recession and rise during boom. This finding contrasts with pro-cyclical tax results obtained in standard sticky price Ramsey models. In presence of learning-by-doing (LBD) mechanism, the Ramsey planner finds it relatively more costly to raise taxes in response to a negative technology shock. Higher taxes would reduce hours, output, and hence future level of organizational capital which will magnify the shock further by lowering future productivity. Hence, in response to a negative productivity shock, the planner finds it optimal to lower taxes in order to raise the after tax return to work and minimize the welfare-reducing effects of the shock. Second, optimal inflation is very stable and persistent over the business cycle. We show that while a dynamic link between current production and future productivity generates the inflation persistence, the real cost of price adjustment is the key factor behind the very low volatility in optimal inflation. Both of these mechanisms work through the monopolistic firms’ optimal pricing condition – namely the New Keynesian Philips Curve.