This paper uses a micro-founded DSGE model to compare second-best optimal environmental policy, and the resulting Ramsey allocation, to first-best allocation. The focus is on the source and size of uncertainty, and how this affects optimal choices and the comparison between second- and...

This paper investigates the importance of political ideology for the choice of the tax structure. In particular, we examine the effects of cabinet ideology on the distribution of the tax burden across factors of production and consumption for 16 OECD countries over the period 1970–2000 by...

We construct a general equilibrium model of economic growth and optimally chosen fiscal policy, in which individuals compete with each other for a share of government spending and two political parties alternate in power according to exogenous electoral uncertainty. The main prediction is that...

In this paper we introduce weak property rights in the standard real business cycle (RBC) model in order to examine the role of institutions as a source of economic fluctuations in emerging markets. In particular, in Mexico, the movements in productivity in the data are associated with changes...

This article studies the growth and welfare effects of public education spending in the USA for the post-war period. We calibrate a standard dynamic general equilibrium model, where human capital is the engine of long-run endogenous growth. Our results suggest that while increases in public...

Direct measurement of the social cost of rent seeking is impeded by non-observable and non-reported activities. We use a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to compute the social cost of rent seeking in Europe. Our estimate is based on competition among interest groups for privileges...