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Public Debt and the Balance Sheet of the Private Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Gersbach, Hans
  • Rochet, Jean-Charles
  • von Thadden, Ernst-Ludwig

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of corporate political influence on fiscal policy. We in-troduce different interest groups, firms and households, into a simple growth model with incomplete markets and heterogeneous agents. Firms face non-insurable id-iosyncratic productivity shocks. They finance their productive investments by issu-ing bonds but cannot issue equity. Households’ savings are invested into corporate bonds and public debt. The government selects the levels of taxes and public debt so as to maximize a weighted sum of the welfares of firms’owners and households. More government debt reduces corporate leverage, increases the risk free rate r and decreases the growth rate g. A. The weight of firms in social welfare determines whether r g at the optimum, with different dynamics in both regimes.

Suggested Citation

  • Gersbach, Hans & Rochet, Jean-Charles & von Thadden, Ernst-Ludwig, 2023. "Public Debt and the Balance Sheet of the Private Sector," TSE Working Papers 23-1412, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    • Handle: RePEc:tse:wpaper:127930
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Modena & Luca Regis, 2024. "Capital risk, fiscal policy, and the distribution of wealth," Mathematics and Financial Economics, Springer, volume 18, number 8, February.
    2. Rosella Levaggi & Francesco Menoncin & Andrea Modena, 2025. "May Tax Evasion Help Control Public Debt?," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2025_623, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    3. Andrea Modena & Luca Regis, 2023. "Capital Risk, Fiscal Policy, and the Distribution of Wealth," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2023_454, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Incomplete Financial Markets; Debt; Interest; Growth; Ponzi Games; Heterogeneous Agents;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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