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Implications of tax policy for innovation and aggregate productivity growth

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  • Ferraro, Domenico
  • Ghazi, Soroush
  • Peretto, Pietro F.

Abstract

We examine the quantitative implications of income taxation for innovation and aggregate productivity growth within the context of a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model of innovation-led growth. In the model, innovation comes from entrants creating new products and incumbents improving own existing products. The model embodies key features of the U.S. government sector: (i) an individual income tax with differential treatment of labor income, dividends, and capital gains; (ii) a corporate tax; (iii) a consumption tax; (iv) government purchases. The model is restricted to fit observations for the post-war U.S. economy. Our results suggest that endogenous movements in aggregate productivity and endogenous market structure play a quantitatively important role in the propagation of tax shocks.

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  • Ferraro, Domenico & Ghazi, Soroush & Peretto, Pietro F., 2020. "Implications of tax policy for innovation and aggregate productivity growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:130:y:2020:i:c:s0014292120302208
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2020.103590
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    3. Chu, Angus C. & Furukawa, Yuichi & Wang, Xilin, 2022. "Rent-seeking government and endogenous takeoff in a Schumpeterian economy," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Maebayashi, Noritaka & Morimoto, Keiichi, 2024. "Global corporate income tax competition, knowledge spillover, and growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    5. Jakob B. Madsen & Antonio Minniti & Francesco Venturini, 2023. "The long‐run investment effect of taxation in OECD countries," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(358), pages 584-611, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Individual income tax; Corporate tax; Economic growth; Total factor productivity; Firms’ entry; Innovation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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