Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-161).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 446-475).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New York University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 199-208).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-153).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1993. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-98).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Michigan, 1995. / Chairs: Kenneth Lieberthal; Michel Oksenberg. Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation studies monetary-fiscal policy interactions and adaptive learning applications in regime-switching DSGE models. A common thread through my research is understanding how policymakers may be affected by the interaction of policy regime change and agents' beliefs about past, current or future policy in general equilibrium. The work I present in this dissertation shows that conventional and unconventional policy outcomes, as well as the existence, uniqueness and expectational stability of rational expectations solutions, depend heavily on the expectational effects of time-varying policy. These findings suggest that uncertainty over future fiscal policy may curb the effectiveness of monetary policy, or otherwise constrain the actions of central bankers. In carrying out this research agenda, my work also examines the relationship between determinacy and expectational stability in a general class of Markov-switching DSGE models.

This thesis is of the three article format. All three articles contribute to the literature on optimal fiscal policy with exogeneous government expenditures and distortionary taxation following Lucas and Stokey (1983) and Aiyagari et al. (2002) (AMSS). The first article extends the framework of AMSS by modelling agents ex ante heterogeneous in deterministic labour productivity trends in an infinite-horizon production economy with incomplete markets. The government does not use transfers. When the productivities of different agents grow at different rates, there is a conflict over the timing of tax collection. This is explored in a two-period model. The infinite-horizon model with two agents (‘lowskilled’ and ‘high-skilled’) is used to quantitatively analyse the impact of productivity trends observed in recent decades on the optimal policy. The impact is significant. The model can contribute to explaining the increase in government debt in many advanced economies in recent decades. The optimal policy strongly depends on Pareto weights but welfare of the agents does not. Political economics implications are discussed. The second article analyses the impact of heterogeneous productivity trends on the optimal policy when the social planner can use transfers. There is now conflict over the timing and the level of taxation, and it is explored in a two-period model. The optimal policy is studied in the same environment as in the first article. For most Pareto weights, the change in the tax rate is less pronounced than in the model without transfers, but still greater than the expected change due to shocks. The optimal policy and the welfare of the agents strongly depend on Pareto weights. Policy implications are discussed. The optimal policy in the horizon of decades is significantly affected by even a modest heterogeneity in the growth rates of the agents. Solution methods common to all three articles are discussed. In the third article the closed economy model of AMSS is extended into an open economy setting with two countries. The government of each country finances its exogeneous stochastic expenditures by distortionary labour taxation, and issues one-period bonds. The Ramsey planner chooses policy for both countries, and a no-arbitrage condition on the return of bonds of the two countries restricts her choices. The optimal policy is quantitatively studied in a calibrated model with ex-ante identical countries and equal Pareto weights, and three settings are compared in terms of policy and welfare: autarky (closed economy), partial union (international borrowing allowed), and full union (transfers between governments allowed).

A major goal of the EU Commission in the area of direct taxation is the introduction of a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) in Europe. While hardly discussed in the literature, such a system would limit national discretion over tax depreciation. In a sample of up to 47 countries, we find that the probability of a tax reform that improves the depreciation allowances increases, if the macroeconomic situation is weak. This suggests that changes in depreciation allowances are used as a fiscal instrument for stabilization. A common consolidated tax base deprives national governments from implementing investment incentives via accelerated depreciation. This paper discusses the possible implementation of a hybrid system that combines features of formula apportionment and separate accounting. Such a hybrid system may substantially mitigate transfer pricing problems and other tax planning issues, whilst preserving national discretion over depreciation allowances. / Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Series

No contexto de transformações políticas, econômicas e teóricas que marcaram o período de 1965 a 2010, o presente trabalho estuda a política fiscal do governo federal em uma perspectiva de longo prazo. Em particular, centra-se em dois pontos: no estudo do padrão de financiamento tributário e de gasto do governo e na análise institucional do processo de elaboração, aprovação e execução do orçamento sob a ótica da disciplina fiscal, suas alterações ao longo do tempo, bem como o impacto deste arcabouço institucional no resultado observado para a política fiscal. Para contornar a falta de dados fiscais para o período, foram construídas séries para a receita e a despesa federal, a partir de dados desagregados, obtidos de fontes primárias e públicas. Os resultados mostram que as mudanças na forma de atuação do Estado na economia levaram a distintos padrões de receita e despesa do governo federal: o primeiro, ligado ao Estado como promotor da industrialização, tem como principal fonte de receita fiscal os tributos e destaca-se pelos gastos em infraestrutura; no segundo, instituído pela Constituição de 1988, são as contribuições sociais a fonte principal de receita fiscal e, em contrapartida, destacam-se as despesas com previdência e assistência social. No que tange ao arcabouço institucional do orçamento, os dois processos orçamentários identificados, o vigente no regime militar e o instituído pela Constituição de 1988, são analisados e comparados. Com base na metodologia estabelecida na literatura de economia política ligada ao mainstream macroeconômico, dois índices orçamentários e seus respectivos subíndices são construídos, e o seu comportamento ao longo do período analisado mostra que as mudanças realizadas resultaram em instituições que induzem a uma maior disciplina fiscal. O impacto destas instituições sobre o resultado fiscal é estudado para o período de 1985 a 2009 e os resultados permitem concluir que as mudanças institucionais contribuíram para um menor déficit público. / In the context of political, economic and theoretical chances that characterized the period from 1965 to 2010, this thesis studies the Brazilian Federal Government´s fiscal policy, on a long term perspective. In particular, it focuses on two points: the study of the pattern of tax financing and government spending; and the analysis of the budgetary institutions according to which budgets are prepared, approved and implemented, from the perspective of fiscal discipline, their changes over time, and the impact of this institutional framework in the observed results for fiscal policy. To overcome the lack of fiscal data for the whole period, series for federal revenues and expenditures were built from disaggregated data, obtained from primary and public sources. The results show two different patterns of income and expenses: the first pattern, linked to the state as promoter of industrialization, has taxes as its main source of fiscal revenue and higher expenses on infrastructure as share of GDP; in the second pattern, set by the Constitution of 1988, social contributions are the main source of tax revenue and expenditures on social security and welfare are the federal government main expenses. Regarding the institutional framework of the budget, two budget processes are identified, one from the military regime and the other established by the Constitution of 1988. They are analyzed and compared. Based on the methodology established in the literature of political economy linked to the macroeconomic mainstream, two budget index and their respective components are constructed, and its behavior over the 1965-2010 period shows that the observed changes resulted in institutions that lead to greater fiscal discipline. The impact of these institutions on the government´s fiscal performance is studied for the period of 1985 to 2009 and the results indicate that institutional changes contributed to a lower deficit.