The unbearable tightness of being in a monetary union: Fiscal restrictions and regional stability |
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Authors: | Evi Pappa Vanghelis Vassilatos |
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Institution: | a CEPR, Departament de Economia y d’ Historia Economica, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Edifici B - Campus de UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain b Department of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business, Patission Street 76, Greece |
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Abstract: | We study how constrained fiscal policy can affect macroeconomic stability and welfare in a two-region model of a monetary union with sticky prices and distortionary taxation. Both government spending and taxes can be used to stabilize regional variables; however, the best welfare outcome is obtained under some tax variability and constant regional inflations. We use a variety of rules to characterize constrained fiscal policy and find that strict fiscal rules coupled with a monetary policy that targets union-wide inflation result in regional inflation stability and the welfare costs of such rules are not as unbearable as one would expect. Fiscal authorities can enhance welfare by targeting the regional output gap, while targeting regional inflation is less successful since inflation stability is guaranteed by the central bank. |
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Keywords: | E63 F41 F42 |
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