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Optimal Dynamic Tax-Transfer Policies in Heterogeneous-Agents Economies

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Abstract

In the design of an optimal tax-transfer system, there are two complementary conventional wisdoms: the labor-efficiency argument and the debt-efficiency argument. The former emphasizes the trade-off between redistribution and distortions in the labor market, while the latter emphasizes the trade-off between gains from monopoly rents and distortions in the asset market. We use an analytically tractable infinite-horizon model with both ex-ante and ex-post heterogeneity to show that neither argument is complete in the design of the tax-transfer system. Instead, in Aiyagari-type models the optimal system should be determined at the point where the intertemporal wedge between the market interest rate and the time discount rate is completely eliminated, provided that the government fiscal space permits an interior Ramsey steady state. Otherwise the optimal labor tax rate approaches 100% regardless of the Pareto weight distribution in the social welfare function.

Suggested Citation

  • YiLi Chien & Yi Wen, 2023. "Optimal Dynamic Tax-Transfer Policies in Heterogeneous-Agents Economies," Working Papers 2023-009, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlwp:96078
    DOI: 10.20955/wp.2023.009
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jonathan Heathcote & Kjetil Storesletten & Giovanni L. Violante, 2017. "Optimal Tax Progressivity: An Analytical Framework," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1693-1754.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ramsey redistribution; optimal tax-transfer system; optimal interest rate; Laffer curve; incomplete markets; heterogeneity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General

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