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Optimal Fiscal Policy with Labor Selection

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  • Sanjay K. Chugh
  • Wolfgang Lechthaler
  • Christian Merkl

Abstract

This paper characterizes long-run and short-run optimal fiscal policy in the labor selection framework. In a calibrated non-Ramsey decentralized equilibrium, labor market volatility is inefficient. Keeping fixed the structural parameters, the Ramsey government achieves efficient labor market volatility; doing so requires labor-income tax volatility that is orders of magnitude larger than the “tax-smoothing” results based on Walrasian labor markets, but a few times smaller than the results based on search and matching markets. We analytically characterize selection-model-consistent wedges and inefficiencies in order to understand optimal tax volatility.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanjay K. Chugh & Wolfgang Lechthaler & Christian Merkl, 2018. "Optimal Fiscal Policy with Labor Selection," CESifo Working Paper Series 7120, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7120
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    Cited by:

    1. Kohlbrecher, Britta & Merkl, Christian, 2022. "Business cycle asymmetries and the labor market," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    2. Jordi Galí, 2015. "Insider-outsider labor markets, hysteresis and monetary policy," Economics Working Papers 1506, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Jun 2020.
    3. Jordi Galí, 2022. "Insider–Outsider Labor Markets, Hysteresis, and Monetary Policy," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(S1), pages 53-88, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labor market frictions; hiring costs; efficiency; optimal taxation; labor wedge; zero intertemporal distortions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • 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
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General

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