Hostname: page-component-5b777bbd6c-v4w92 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-22T19:39:18.925Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

FISCAL POLICY IN A GROWING ECONOMY WITH PUBLIC CAPITAL

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2005

STEPHEN J. TURNOVSKY
Affiliation:
University of Washington

Abstract

Public capital subject to congestion is introduced into an endogenousgrowth model and the transitional dynamic paths under alternativefiscal policies are characterized. Several new insights are obtainedfrom this more general framework. During the transition, the twocapital stocks always approach their common equilibrium growth ratefrom opposite directions. Government policy induces the more volatileresponse in the capital stock upon which it impinges most directly:private capital in the case of a tax, public capital in the case ofexpenditure. Finally, we characterize a time-varying income tax thatenables the decentralized economy to replicate both the first-besttransitional dynamics and steady-state equilibrium of a centrallyplanned economy. The steady-state component corrects forexternalities that arise when government expenditure deviates fromits social optimum, and the effects of congestion. The transitionalcomponent corrects for myopic behavior by the representative agentalong the adjustment path.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1997 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable