Redistribution within and across borders : the fiscal response to an energy shock

The distributional and disruptive effects of energy supply shocks are potentially large. We study the effectiveness of alternative fiscal responses in a two-country HANK model calibrated to the euro area. Subsidies can stabilize the domestic economy, but they are fiscally costly and generate negative spillovers to the rest of the monetary union: What the subsidizing country gains, other countries lose. Transfers based on historical gas consumption in the form of a Slutsky compensation are less effective domestically than subsidies, but do not harm economic activity abroad. Moreover, transfers increase domestic welfare, while subsidies decrease it.