E62

This paper solves optimal scal policy in a simple real business cycle model with
agent heterogeneity. Introducing rule-of-thumb behaviour in some agents, I show
that the steady state optimal tax on capital in the long run should always be
zero regardless of the governments favouritism towards particular agents. Over

We empirically test the effects of unanticipated fiscal policy shocks on the level and growth rate of real output and reveal different types of asymmetries in fiscal policy implementation. The data used are quarterly U.S. observations over the period 1967:1 to 2011:4. In doing so, we use six alternative vector autoregressive systems in order to construct the fiscal policy shocks.

The present study is an attempt to revisit the evidences of a very recent study of Paul (2010) on the role of macro imbalances in the US recession of 2007-09. Contrary to Paul (2010) who finds that great recession was due to, particularly, twin deficits, I found central cause of the problem was prolonged fiscal deficit.

This paper documents time variation in domestic fiscal policy multipliers in Germany, the UK

This paper argues that any assessment on the intentional stance of fiscal policy should be
based upon all the information available to policymakers at the time of fiscal planning. In
particular, real-time data on the discretionary fiscal policy "instrument", the structural
primary balance, should be used in the estimation of fiscal policy reaction functions. In

We use US county level data (3,058 observations) from 1970 to 1998 to explore the relationship between economic growth and the extent of government employment at three levels: federal, state and local. We find that increases in federal, state and local government employments are all negatively associated with economic growth.