Fiscal Policy in a Growth Model with Both Altruistic and Non Altruistic Agents

This paper examines the long-run behavior of an overlapping-generations model with a population consisting of altruistic and non-altruistic agents. It also studies the effect of fiscal policy on aggregate capital accumulation and on the welfare of both types of agents. It shows that an increase in the relative number of non-altruists is Pareto-improving in the steady-state. It also shows that the introduction of public debt or unfunded social security has no effect on the long-run equilibrium but implies a transfer of resources from the non-altruistic to the altruistic agents. Finally, it indicates that inheritance taxation hurts not only the altruists but also the nonaltruists.