Tariff, Growth, and Welfare

We develop a two-country (Home and Foreign) by two-good (consumption good and investment good) by one factor (capital) endogenous growth model with international knowledge spillover to study the relationship between an import tariff and economic growth and welfare. First, unlike the past literature, we do not need to make an assumption such that the growth rates between countries are identical in a balanced growth path (BGP). Second, we show that there exists a unique and saddle-point BGP with both countries being incompletely specialized. Third, a higher import tariff on the consumption good in the domestic country may boost (reduce) the rate of economic growth when the foreign (domestic) country has an absolute advantage in the investment good. Finally, a rise in the tariff rate by one country may improve world welfare under some parameter spaces.two-country endogenous growth model, international knowledge spillover, import tariff, economic growth, welfare

Congestible Public Goods and Indeterminacy in a Two-sector Endogenous Growth Model

This paper develops a new mechanism for local indeterminacy in a constant-return, two-sector, human capital enhanced growth model, with productive public spending financed by the income taxation in the goods sector. The use of productive public goods services is subject to an external congestion effect in association with the quantity of aggregate physical as well as human capital used in the economy. We establish local indeterminate equilibrium paths driven by the congestion effect. The possibility of local indeterminacy emerges because under constant returns, the congestion effect reduces the marginal contribution of public goods services and increases the marginal contribution of physical as well as human capital, thereby making the social marginal products to deviate from those of the firm’s perspective.two-sector model, indeterminacy, congestion

Import Tariffs and Growth in a Model with Habits

This paper studies the relationship between tariffs and economic growth in a two-country AK growth model. We find that a sufficiently higher tariff can increase or decrease economic growth, which depends on the levels of productivity coefficients in both countries. Moreover, the Ricardian theorem of comparative advantage holds in the long-run equilibrium and local indeterminacy emerges in the case of incomplete specialization under milder conditions compared with conventional literature.AK growth model, two-country, tariffs, growth, indeterminacy

General fund financing, earmarking, economic stabilization and welfare

Discussion has been made concerning pros and cons of the ways of financing public projects via either earmarking or general fund based upon a public finance approach. The paper studies the implications of desirability of earmarked and general fund based upon economic stabilization in a two-sector growth model. Regardless of the nature of public goods, earmarked tax contributes to aggregate stabilization, while general fund may be destabilizing and cause fluctuations. The underlying mechanism in favor of earmarked taxes against general fund is that general fund creates intersectoral externalities and strategic complementarities that is sufficiently large to exert endogenously persistent and recurring fluctuations in aggregate activities in the absence of shocks to fundamentals. Earmarked taxing generates only sector-specific externalities that are too small to exert local indeterminacy. In a calibrated version, we compute the level of long-run welfare and the results reflect favorably upon the use of earmarked taxing.earmarked tax; general fund finance; indeterminacy, welfare

Tariff, Growth, and Welfare

We develop a two-country (Home and Foreign) by two-good (consumption good and investment good) by one factor (capital) endogenous growth model with international knowledge spillover to study the relationship between an import tariff and economic growth and welfare. First, unlike the past literature, we do not need to make an assumption such that the growth rates between countries are identical in a balanced growth path (BGP). Second, we show that there exists a unique and saddle-point BGP with both countries being incompletely specialized. Third, a higher import tariff on the consumption good in the domestic country may boost (reduce) the rate of economic growth when the foreign (domestic) country has an absolute advantage in the investment good. Finally, a rise in the tariff rate by one country may improve world welfare under some parameter spaces

Tariff, Growth, and Welfare

We develop a two-country (Home and Foreign) by two-good (consumption good and investment good) by one factor (capital) endogenous growth model with international knowledge spillover to study the relationship between an import tariff and economic growth and welfare. First, unlike the past literature, we do not need to make an assumption such that the growth rates between countries are identical in a balanced growth path (BGP). Second, we show that there exists a unique and saddle-point BGP with both countries being incompletely specialized. Third, a higher import tariff on the consumption good in the domestic country may boost (reduce) the rate of economic growth when the foreign (domestic) country has an absolute advantage in the investment good. Finally, a rise in the tariff rate by one country may improve world welfare under some parameter spaces

General fund financing, earmarking, economic stabilization and welfare

Discussion has been made concerning pros and cons of the ways of financing public projects via either earmarking or general fund based upon a public finance approach. The paper studies the implications of desirability of earmarked and general fund based upon economic stabilization in a two-sector growth model. Regardless of the nature of public goods, earmarked tax contributes to aggregate stabilization, while general fund may be destabilizing and cause fluctuations. The underlying mechanism in favor of earmarked taxes against general fund is that general fund creates intersectoral externalities and strategic complementarities that is sufficiently large to exert endogenously persistent and recurring fluctuations in aggregate activities in the absence of shocks to fundamentals. Earmarked taxing generates only sector-specific externalities that are too small to exert local indeterminacy. In a calibrated version, we compute the level of long-run welfare and the results reflect favorably upon the use of earmarked taxing

Import Tariffs and Growth in a Model with Habits

This paper studies the relationship between tariffs and economic growth in a two-country AK growth model. We find that a sufficiently higher tariff can increase or decrease economic growth, which depends on the levels of productivity coefficients in both countries. Moreover, the Ricardian theorem of comparative advantage holds in the long-run equilibrium and local indeterminacy emerges in the case of incomplete specialization under milder conditions compared with conventional literature

General fund financing, earmarking, economic stabilization and welfare

Discussion has been made concerning pros and cons of the ways of financing public projects via either earmarking or general fund based upon a public finance approach. The paper studies the implications of desirability of earmarked and general fund based upon economic stabilization in a two-sector growth model. Regardless of the nature of public goods, earmarked tax contributes to aggregate stabilization, while general fund may be destabilizing and cause fluctuations. The underlying mechanism in favor of earmarked taxes against general fund is that general fund creates intersectoral externalities and strategic complementarities that is sufficiently large to exert endogenously persistent and recurring fluctuations in aggregate activities in the absence of shocks to fundamentals. Earmarked taxing generates only sector-specific externalities that are too small to exert local indeterminacy. In a calibrated version, we compute the level of long-run welfare and the results reflect favorably upon the use of earmarked taxing

Import Tariffs and Growth in a Model with Habits

This paper studies the relationship between tariffs and economic growth in a two-country AK growth model. We find that a sufficiently higher tariff can increase or decrease economic growth, which depends on the levels of productivity coefficients in both countries. Moreover, the Ricardian theorem of comparative advantage holds in the long-run equilibrium and local indeterminacy emerges in the case of incomplete specialization under milder conditions compared with conventional literature