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Optimal Taxation in a Limited Commitment Economy

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  • Yena Park

Abstract

This article studies optimal Ramsey taxation when risk sharing in private insurance markets is imperfect due to limited enforcement. In a limited commitment economy, there are externalities associated with capital and labour because individuals do not take into account that their labour and saving decisions affect aggregate labour and capital supply and wages, and thus the value of autarky. Therefore, a Ramsey government has an additional goal, which is to internalize these externalities of labour and capital to improve risk sharing, in addition to its usual goal—minimizing distortions in financing government expenditures. These two goals drive capital and labour taxes in opposite directions. It is shown that the steady-state optimal capital income taxes are levied only to remove the negative externality of the capital, whereas optimal labour income taxes are set to meet the budgetary needs of the government in the long run, despite the presence of positive externalities of labour.

Suggested Citation

  • Yena Park, 2014. "Optimal Taxation in a Limited Commitment Economy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(2), pages 884-918.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:restud:v:81:y:2014:i:2:p:884-918
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/restud/rdt038
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    Cited by:

    1. Paweł Doligalski & Abdoulaye Ndiaye & Nicolas Werquin, 2023. "Redistribution with Performance Pay," Journal of Political Economy Macroeconomics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(2), pages 371-402.
    2. Boháček, Radim & Kejak, Michal, 2018. "Optimal government policies in models with heterogeneous agents," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 834-858.
    3. Katharina Greulich & Sarolta Laczó & Albert Marcet, 2023. "Pareto-Improving Optimal Capital and Labor Taxes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(7), pages 1904-1946.
    4. Biljanovska, Nina & Vardoulakis, Alexandros P., 2019. "Capital taxation with heterogeneous discounting and collateralized borrowing," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 97-109.
    5. YiLi Chien & Yi Wen, 2022. "Optimal Ramsey Taxation in Heterogeneous Agent Economies with Quasi-Linear Preferences," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 46, pages 124-160, October.
    6. Yunmin Chen & YiLi Chien & Michael T. Owyang, 2015. "Individual and Aggregate Constrained Efficient Intertemporal Wedges in Dynamic Mirrleesian Economies," Working Papers 2015-43, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    7. V. Filipe Martins-Da-Rocha & Toan Phan & Yiannis Vailakis, 2022. "Pecuniary Externalities in Competitive Economies with Limited Pledgeability," Working Papers hal-03909596, HAL.
    8. Picard, Pierre M. & Worrall, Tim, 2020. "Currency areas and voluntary transfers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    9. Yikai Wang & Hans Holter & Marcus Hagedorn, 2015. "The Optimum Quantity of Capital and Debt," 2015 Meeting Papers 1220, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Yena Park, 2018. "Constrained Efficiency in a Human Capital Model," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 179-214, July.
    11. Yunmin Chen & YiLi Chien & C.C. Yang, 2017. "Implementing the Modified Golden Rule? Optimal Ramsey Capital Taxation with Incomplete Markets Revisited," Working Papers 2017-003, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised 01 Oct 2020.
    12. Tran-Xuan, Monica, 2023. "Optimal redistributive policy in debt constrained economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    13. YiLi Chien & Yi Wen, 2019. "Don't Tax Capital---Optimal Ramsey Taxation in Heterogeneous Agent Economies with Quasi-Linear Preferences," 2019 Meeting Papers 258, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    14. YiLi Chien & Yi Wen, 2017. "Optimal Ramsey Capital Income Taxation —A Reappraisal," Working Papers 2017-24, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

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