Product Differentiation, Fiscal Policy, and Free Entry

Entry is recognized to be an important issue in macro models considering imperfectly competitive markets. However, two lines of research have been kept apart: the homogeneous-product oligopoly approach, where entry means more firms in the industry, and the monopolistic competition approach, where it means more brands. Our model tries to go beyond these limitations, considering a small open economy within a monetary union (characterised by a fixed exchange rate and perfect financial capital mobility). In this economy each industry produces a differentiated non-tradable good and is composed several Cournot competitors. Competition works at both the intraindustry and sector level. Decisions on both taxes and government expenditure are taken by the economy’s government, i.e., fiscal policy is decentralised within the monetary union. Since the model generates multiple equilibria, three types of entry are considered: more firms (I), more industries (II), and a combination of both (III). Fiscal policy is shown to be effective on aggregate output under the three cases. Its effect on welfare is mainly walrasian in case II, but it can be keynesian when market power is high in cases I or III.

Productive Public Expenditure and Imperfect Competition with Endogenous Price Markup: Comment

In a recent article Chen et al. (2005) analyse the role of government expenditure in an imperfectly competitive static model, introducing a government-expenditure externality through the production function. Our purpose in the present paper is to argue that the claim from the authors that their model generates an endogenous markup is in our view incorrect. We argue that their model does not contain an endogenous markup, but a fixed one and that their claim is based upon an incorrect interpretation of what is the marginal cost in their own model.Endogenous markup.

Fiscal Policy under Imperfect Competition: A Survey

This paper surveys the link between imperfect competition and the e¤ects of fiscal policy on output, employment and welfare. We examine static and dynamic models, with and without entry under a variety of assumptions using a common analytical framework. We find that in general there is a robust relationship between the fiscal multiplier and welfare, the tantalizing possibility of Pareto improving fiscal policy is much more elusive. In general, the mechanisms are supply side, and so welfare improving policy, whilst possible, is not a general result. Key words: Fiscal Policy; Imperfect Competition.

Market power and fiscal policy in OECD countries

We compute average mark-ups as a measure of market power throughout time and study their interaction with fiscal policy and macroeconomic variables in a VAR framework. From impulse-response functions the results, with annual data for a set of 14 OECD countries covering the period 1970-2007, show that the mark-up (i) depicts a pro-cyclical behaviour with productivity shocks and (ii) a mildly counter-cyclical behaviour with fiscal spending shocks. We also use a Panel Vector Auto-Regression analysis, increasing the efficiency in the estimations, which confirms the countryspecific results. JEL Classification: D4, E0, E3, H6Fiscal Policy, Mark-up, Panel VAR, VAR

Editorial note

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Endogenous markups and fiscal policy

This note analyses a simple imperfectly competitive general equilibrium model where the entry mechanism generates an endogenous markup. In this second-best world fiscal policy is more effective than in Walrasian or in fixed-markup monopolistic competition models, as it produces efficiency gains through entry

GDP steady-state multipliers under monopolistic competition revisited

New Keynesian general-equilibrium static models showed the fiscal multiplier is an increasing function of the degree of monopoly. Here, I develop a simple intertemporal model allowing us to study the steady-state role of optimal capital stock (and depreciation) in the fiscal policy transmission mechanism. The GDP multiplier may be locally decreasing in the degree of monopoly when the number of firms is fixed, but results depend strongly on the set of parameter values chosen. Using a net-output definition or allowing for free entry leads to unambiguous dominance of the long-run monopolistic multiplier over the Walrasian one.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Multipliers and imperfect competition: what is the role of capital depreciation?

In static general equilibrium models considering imperfectly competitive goods markets, the effectiveness of fiscal policy to stir output is shown to be greater than in the walrasian case. However, labour is the only input in these models. Here, I develop a simple intertemporal model allowing us to study the steady-state role of optimal capital stock in the fiscal policy transmission mechanism. I demonstrate the results depend strongly on the set of parameter values chosen and on the output definition. Using plausible numerical values the multiplier is larger in the walrasian case for small initial government purchases, and smaller for intermediate values

Market power and fiscal policy in OECD countries

We compute average mark-ups as a measure of market power throughout time and study their interaction with fiscal policy and macroeconomic variables in a VAR framework. From impulse-response functions the results, with annual data for a set of 14 OECD countries covering the period 1970-2007, show that the mark-up (i) depicts a pro-cyclical behaviour with productivity shocks and (ii) a mildly counter-cyclical behaviour with fiscal spending shocks. We also use a Panel Vector Auto-Regression analysis, increasing the efficiency in the estimations, which confirms the country-specific results

Exploring the literature on the Japanese stagnation in the nineties: a business-cycle-accounting approach

In this article we analyse the vast literature advancing explanations for the Japanese stagnation of the 1990s, using the Business-Cycle-Accounting approach proposed by V. Chari, P. Kehoe, and E. McGrattan. This methodology allows us to identify the most (and the least) promising types of explanations using the empirical evidence available. We find that capital-market frictions and total factor productivity fluctuations explain most of the variability observed in the data, and labour-market frictions do not play a significant roleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio