We construct an overlapping generations model for an open economy where hours worked, human capital accumulation, income and welfare are all endogenous. Within each generation we distinguish individuals with high, medium or low innate ability. These differences in ability explain inequality in...

We analyse the in uence of fiscal policy on TFP and per capita output in a panel of OECD countries since 1975. We focus on the effects of government size, government deficits and the composition of taxes and expenditures. Compared to existing studies, our contribu- tion is double. First, we are...

This paper examines the government spending multiplier when economic agents form their expectations based on an adaptive learning scheme. The learning mechanism is such that the agents forecast future values of forward-looking variables using a linear function of an information set that does not...

How large are government spending and tax multipliers? The fiscal proxy-SVAR literature provides heterogenous estimates, depending on which proxies - fiscal or non-fiscal - are used to identify fiscal shocks. We reconcile the existing estimates via a flexible vector autoregressive model that...

We build and parameterize a general equilibrium OLG model for an open economy to study hours of work in three age groups, education of the young, and aggregate per capita growth. The composition of fiscal policy plays a crucial role. The government sets tax rates on labor, capital and...

We analyze the impact of the composition of fiscal policy on employment and long-run growth. Our theoretical model builds on Barro (JPE, 1990) which we extend by endogenizing the decision to work and by allowing three kinds of government expenditures and three kinds of taxes. The model explains...

Empirical studies typically find that private consumption is much more sensitive to changes in current disposable income than is predicted by Hall's (JPE, 1978) permanent income hypothesis. Standard explanations for this "excess sensitivity" of private consumption refer to liquidity constraints...

In this paper we analyse the impact of distortionary taxes, transfers related to structural nonemployment and productive government expenditures on employment and long-run growth. Our theoretical model builds on Barro (JPE, 1990) which we extend by endogenizing the decision to work and by...

This paper provides some further tests for the proposition that a larger public sector leads to smaller output volatility. Both Gali and Fatas & Mihov have provided some evidence which appears to support this proposition. Their evidence is, however, based on a relatively small sample of...

This paper deals with the fiscal behaviour of governments in the 1920s and 1930s.The intention is to see whether there were the same features in government behaviour as in the post-World War II era.In particular, attention is paid to asymmetric fiscal policies, ie the question of whether...