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Distortionary Taxation, Debt, and the Price Level

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  • ANDREAS SCHABERT
  • LEOPOLD VON THADDEN

Abstract

This paper compares the determinacy of equilibria under exogenous interest rates in an economy with a cash constraint, in which taxation is lump-sum or distortionary. Under passive fiscal policies lump-sum taxes generate nominal indeterminacy, while with distortionary taxes indeterminacy can be real, but not purely nominal. In general, under distortionary taxation uniqueness of the equilibrium allocation depends on monetary and fiscal policy interactions through taxes, debt, and interest rates. To illustrate this principle, we consider balanced-budget policies under distortionary income taxation and show that a unique equilibrium allocation prevails if interest rates are set consistent with long-run deflation. A separate section extends the analysis to endogenous interest rates. Copyright (c) 2009 The Ohio State University.

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  • Andreas Schabert & Leopold Von Thadden, 2009. "Distortionary Taxation, Debt, and the Price Level," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(1), pages 159-188, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:mcb:jmoncb:v:41:y:2009:i:1:p:159-188
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    Cited by:

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    2. Yuting Bai & Tatiana Kirsanova, 2013. "Infrequent Fiscal Stabilization," Working Papers 2013_01, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    3. Giovanni Lombardo & Peter McAdam, 2010. "Incorporating financial frictions into new-generation macro models," Research Bulletin, European Central Bank, vol. 9, pages 13-16.
    4. Zhiming Fu & Antoine Le Riche, 2022. "Public spending, monetary policy and macroeconomic instability," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(3), pages 580-608, June.
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    6. Panagiotis Chronis & Aspassia Strantzalou, 2008. "Monetary and Fiscal Policy Interaction: What is the Role of the Transaction Cost of the Tax System in Stabilisation Policies?," Working Papers 71, Bank of Greece.
    7. Pedro Gomis-Porqueras & Solmaz Moslehi & Vivianne Vilar, 2013. "The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level When All Income is Taxed," Monash Economics Working Papers 09-13, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    8. Hannes Malmberg & Erik Öberg, 2021. "Price‐Level Determination When Tax Payments Are Required in Money," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(2), pages 621-644, April.
    9. Fiorella De Fiore & Oreste Tristani, 2010. "Financial conditions and monetary policy," Research Bulletin, European Central Bank, vol. 9, pages 10-12.
    10. Reicher, Claire A., 2014. "Fiscal targeting rules and macroeconomic stability under distortionary taxation," Kiel Working Papers 1968, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    11. Cornelia Holthausen & Huw Pill, 2010. "The forgotten markets: How understanding money markets helps us to understand the financial crisis," Research Bulletin, European Central Bank, vol. 9, pages 2-5.
    12. Robalo Marques, Carlos & Dias, Daniel & Santos Silva, João M. C., 2006. "Measuring the importance of the uniform nonsynchronization hypothesis," Working Paper Series 606, European Central Bank.
    13. Schabert, Andreas, 2010. "Monetary policy under a fiscal theory of sovereign default," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 860-868, March.
    14. Angela Maddaloni & José-Luis Peydró, 2010. "Bank lending standards and the origins and implications of the current banking crisis," Research Bulletin, European Central Bank, vol. 9, pages 6-9.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization; Treasury Policy

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