Understanding policy in the great recession: Some unpleasant fiscal arithmetic

I use the valuation equation of government debt to understand fiscal and monetary policy in and following the great recession of 2008–2009. I also examine policy alternatives to avoid deflation, and how fiscal pressures might lead to inflation. I conclude that the central bank may be almost powerless to avoid deflation or inflation; that an eventual fiscal inflation can come well before large deficits or monetization are realized, and that it is likely to come with stagnation rather than a boom.     

Functional income distribution and effective demand in India: An applied post Keynesian model

This article is an attempt to understand the relationship between functional income distribution and aggregate demand in India. To this end, the article (a) highlights trends in growth and class distribution of income in India; (b) constructs a post Keynesian macro model that links short run growth with profit share, where the latter is itself driven by movements in output and real exchange rate; (c) discusses and, wherever required, estimates key parameters relevant to the Indian case; and (d) simulates the model and discusses the effect of shocks to distributive as well as autonomous demand variables on growth performance. The article finds that, although a possibility of wage-led growth in India cannot be ruled out, by and large, distributive shocks do not have a strong impact on output growth. On the other hand, an increase in public expenditure growth, although it has a strong effect on output growth, tilts income distribution toward profit earners. A comprehensive agenda involving greater public expenditure and higher wages to stimulate growth and improve distribution is therefore recommended.     

An empirical test of the Post-Keynesian growth model applied to functional income distribution and the growth regime in Brazil

The main purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate whether, between 1970 and 2008, the Brazilian economy was profit-led or wage-led. To this end, we approach a canonical post-Keynesian growth model (PKGM) to estimate certain vector autoregressive (VAR) models and perform Granger non-causality tests. Three main results are extracted from the generalized impulse-response functions provided by the VAR models. First, a positive profit-share innovation affects economic growth and capacity utilization rate, both in the same direction, suggesting a profit-led pattern. Second, a profit share shock positively affects both the ratio actual/potential output, and capital accumulation, reinforcing the previous result. Third, a capacity utilization shock is shown to positively affect both output growth and capital accumulation via the accelerator effect. On the one hand, the pairwise Granger non-causality test does not provide any evidence of causality running from profit share to economic growth or capacity utilization. On the other hand, there is some evidence of Granger causality running from profit share to capital accumulation.     

Floor systems for implementing monetary policy: Some unpleasant fiscal arithmetic

An increasing number of central banks implement monetary policy via a channel system or a floor system. We construct a general equilibrium model to study the properties of these systems. We find that a floor system is weakly optimal if and only if the target rate satisfies the Friedman rule. Unfortunately, the optimal floor system requires either transfers from the fiscal authority to the central bank or a reduction in seigniorage payments from the central bank to the government. This is the unpleasant fiscal arithmetic of a floor system. When the central bank faces financing constraints on its interest expense, we show that it is strictly optimal to operate a channel system.     

Monetary and fiscal policy interactions in a post Keynesian open-economy model

Using a post Keynesian model, this study aims to analyze the stabilizing role of fiscal and monetary policies in an open economy with a managed exchange rate regime. The real exchange rate is modeled as an endogenous variable and inflation explained using the conflicting claims approach. The dynamic properties of macroeconomic equilibrium are evaluated in different regimes of fiscal and monetary policies. The main result of this study suggests that the preferred policy regime is the one in which economic authorities are complementary and fiscal policy plays an explicitly active role. In this regime, the fiscal policy must commit to the target for the rate of capacity utilization and the monetary authority must commit to the inflation target.     

Hyperinflation in a small open economy with a fixed exchange rate: A post Keynesian view

This paper examines the emergence of hyperinflation in a small open economy with a fixed exchange rate from a post Keynesian perspective. Three variables play key roles: distributive conflict, external debt, and expectations about the exchange rate. First, we propose a short-run Kaleckian macro model. Then, we study the long-run behavior of the model by endogenizing the price level and foreign indebtedness. We conclude that the existence of expectations about the nominal exchange rate is crucial to explaining the emergence of hyperinflation.     

Functional income distribution and growth in Thailand: A post Keynesian econometric analysis

The aim of this article is to analyze the effect of the income distribution between labor and capital on the growth performance of Thailand from a post Keynesian view. It rests on the theoretical model of Bhaduri and Marglin (1990 Bhaduri, A., and Marglin, S. “Unemployment and the Real Wage: The Economic Basis for Contesting Political Ideologies.” Cambridge Journal of Economics, December 1990, 14 (4), 375–393.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to see if an increase in the labor income share has a sufficient positive effect on consumption to offset a negative effect on investment and export demand. In order to investigate the question empirically we adopt and develop the approach of Stockhammer, Onaran, and Ederer (2009 Stockhammer, E.; Onaran, Ö.; and Ederer, S. “Functional Income Distribution and Aggregate Demand in the Euro-area.” Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2009, 33 (1), 139–159.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Several measures of the labor income share are calculated to take into account the fact that wage labor represents only half of the total labor force and check the robustness of our results. We also introduce a new treatment of external trade to better integrate the price competitiveness of Thailand. The econometric investigation shows that the growth regime is profit-led over the period 1970–2011, which shows that rebalancing the Thai economy will be difficult and requires an overall change of strategy going beyond a simple prolabor policy.     

Examining the role of expectations in a macromodel: Some results with the Finnish QMED model

This paper reports some policy experiments carried out with the QMED model of the Bank of Finland. The main issue in these experiments is the role of expectations. Thus, we compare an autoregressive expectations version with a rational expectations version of the model. When various policy simulations are carried out with these different versions – both in terms of anticipated and unanticipated shocks – it turns out that the whole short-run dynamics are crucially affected by the way in which expectations are modelled. In particular, we find the advance effects in the case of the rational expectations version can be of considerable magnitude.     

Debt sustainability in emerging market countries: Some policy guidelines from a fan-chart approach

This paper uses a probabilistic approach to simulate the medium-term public debt trajectories of several major emerging market countries. We extend the standard debt sustainability analysis framework so as to more faithfully reproduce these countries’ economic reality in two aspects. First, we allow them to differ in the cyclical stance of their fiscal policy and in their degree of fiscal responsiveness to debt. Second, we explicitly integrate the specific risk premium paid by each country when borrowing in foreign currency. It allows us to evaluate the impact of alternative policies that the government may consider to improve sustainability. The results lead to three policy recommendations: i) a country should consider decreasing its exposure to currency risk only in extreme cases (like Argentina); ii) on the contrary, greater fiscal responsiveness (i.e. stronger fiscal tightening whenever there is a debt increase) could enhance sustainability to a much greater extent; iii) countries with low responsiveness to debt or a poor fiscal consolidation track record should be cautious with countercyclical fiscal policies, as they may trigger an unsustainable debt trajectory in the trough of the economic cycle.     

Coping with deflation and the liquidity trap in the eurozone: A post Keynesian approach

The ghost of deflation is once again one of the main worries of policymakers. Recently deflation is indeed characterizing the eurozone. The renewed concern about deflation is due in part to the historical association of deflationary episodes with financial crises, recession, stagnation, and even depression. In deflationary conditions, nominal interest rates are more volatile because uncertainty increases and they may come close to their lower limit of zero: If a “liquidity trap” is at work, monetary policy is incapable of stimulating aggregate demand. This article seeks to show that to avoid a “Japanization” of the eurozone it is urgent to implement adequate economic policies in accordance with the post Keynesian approach. The European Central Bank in recent times has tried to do its best to save the situation through espansive monetary policies adopting both quantitative and qualitative easing. Unfortunately, these kinds of policies have tended more to prevent the recession from becoming far worse than enabling a significant fight against deflation and promoting economic recovery. Conventional and unconventional approaches in economic policy are investigated with a critical eye and contrasted with the theoretical insights suggested by post Keynesians.     

Modeling Imports in a Keynesian Expenditure Model

The author discusses several issues that instructors of introductory macroeconomics courses should consider when introducing imports in the Keynesian expenditure model. The analysis suggests that the specification of the import function should partially, if not completely, be the result of a simple discussion about the spending and import behaviors of the household, firm, and government sectors. The analysis also indicates that instructors who use certain import functions that are in some introductory textbooks will inadvertently impose restrictions on the model and potentially confuse students. The author examines several implications of the specification proposed by Robert Cherry (2001) Cherry, R. 2001. The simple expenditure model with trade: How should we model imports?. Journal of Economic Education, 32: 53–57. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] and shows how the restrictions imposed by Cherry's specification make it difficult for instructors to present certain types of economic events and policies. The import function discussed here avoids these restrictions and allows instructors to present more easily certain types of examples.     

Asymmetric Shocks and Monetary Policy in a Currency Union

We analyze the conduct of monetary policy in a currency union in the face of asymmetric shocks. In particular, we compare the stabilization properties of a currency union versus alternative exchange rate arrangements. The relative performance of a currency union is shown to depend on the extent of economic integration in patterns of consumption and production and on the relative weights placed on price stability versus employment stability in the monetary authority's objective function.
JEL classification : F 33; F 40     

Estimated non-linearities and multiple equilibria in a model of distributive-demand cycles

We introduce the results of a non-parametric estimate of the US wage-Phillips Curve into a simplified version of the model of the wage-price spiral by Flaschel and Krolzig (2008). Making use of Okun’s law, the non-linearity in the wage inflation-employment relation translates into a non-linearity in the so-called ‘distributive curve’ of the economy. Exploiting the observed non-linearity in extending an otherwise standard demand-distribution model (Taylor 2004 Taylor, Lance. 2004. Reconstructing macroeconomics. structuralist proposals and critique of the mainstream, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.  [Google Scholar]), we provide a dynamical analysis both in wage-led and profit-led effective demand regimes. In a profit-led scenario, shown to be the empirically relevant case for the US economy, there are two stable equilibria of Goodwin (1967 Goodwin, R.M. 1967. “A growth cycle”. In Socialism, capitalism and economic growth, Edited by: Feinstein, C.H. Cambridge, , UK: Cambridge University Press.  [Google Scholar]) growth cycle type, identified as a stable depression and a stable boom, and a saddle-path stable equilibrium in between them. Both stable steady states are surrounded by trajectories that cycle counterclockwise around their basins of attraction. The obtained type of growth fluctuations can be verified by a long phase cycle estimation for the US economy using a method developed by Kauermann, Teuber and Flaschel (2008 Kauermann, G., Teuber, T. and Flaschel, P. 2008. “Estimating loops and cycles using penalized splines”. Bielefeld: CEM working paper.  [Google Scholar]).     

The Greek economy under the twin-deficit pressure: a demand orientated growth approach

This paper uses an alternative growth approach in line with Thirlwall’s model in order to predict economic growth in Greece taking into account internal and external imbalances caused by public deficit/debt and lack of trade competitiveness. It is shown that the simple Thirlwall’s Law (given by the product of the ratio of the income elasticities of demand for exports and imports, and the growth of foreign demand) over-predicts real growth in Greece while the more complete extended model, makes a closer prediction which is consistent with the high deficit/debt and current account deficit experienced in this country. The simulation approach shows that the most efficient policy to attain higher growth is to reduce external imbalances while policies to reduce internal imbalances are low growth enhancing.     

Value of WTO trade agreements in a New Keynesian model

We revisit the question of the quantitative benefits of WTO trade agreements in a setup that is non-standard from the traditional trade policy point of view. We show that in a New Keynesian model, unilateral trade liberalization reduces welfare due to terms-of-trade deterioration, creating an incentive for a trade agreement. For realistic parameter values, the value of an agreement, which cuts tariffs by one percentage point, is 0.5–2% of consumption, much larger than in trade models. The intuition for this result hinges on endogenous labor supply.     

On the benefits of fiscal policy coordination in a currency union: a note

It is quite often claimed by politicians that a common currency makes it beneficial to be also endowed with a common fiscal policy. However, if fiscal policy can reasonably be considered to be a source of shocks, national fiscal policies which are steered independently from each other are generally preferable because they allow the possibility to diversify macroeconomic risks. Abstracting from automatic stabilizers, this view is valid independent on whether the ECB targets money growth or interest rates.

Dynamic complexity in a Keynesian growth-cycle model involving Harrod's instability

This paper develops a Keynesian macrodynamic model, where some recent reinterpretations of Harrod's dynamics are embodied. Its main purpose is to prove that Harrod's instability principle may give rise to a chaotic motion (specifically a il'nikov scenario) around two equilibrium points: a steady-state unstable equilibrium, whose value depends on parameters defining the technical-progress dynamics, and a stationary state of zero growth. Furthermore, since it allows for a variable growth rate of labor productivity and assigns a key role to expectations, this model comes closer to modern theories of economic growth and endogenous business cycle.     

Experimental analysis on the role of a large speculator in currency crises

Corsetti et al. (2004) demonstrate that the presence of a large speculator in the foreign exchange market makes the remaining traders more aggressive in their speculative attacks. We conduct an experiment designed to test their theoretical predictions and also use the experiment to analyze an additional aspect that has not been previously covered in the literature: namely, whether the entry of a large speculator and the exit of the same speculator have the same effect in magnitude on the probability of a successful speculative attack. We obtain two main findings. First, the results support the main conclusion of Corsetti et al. (2004) that the presence of a large speculator makes other small speculators more aggressive. Second, the results suggest that the effect of the entry of a large speculator on the probability of successful speculative attacks is larger than that of the exit of the same speculator.     

Optimal monetary policy in a New Keynesian model with endogenous growth

We study optimal monetary policy in a New Keynesian (NK) model with endogenous growth and knowledge spillovers external to each firm. We find that, in contrast with the standard NK model, the Ramsey dynamics implies deviation from full inflation targeting in response to technology and government spending shocks, while the optimal operational rule is backward looking and responds to inflation and output deviations from their long-run levels.     

Partial Delegation in a Model of Currency Crisis

This paper shows that, in a fixed exchange-rate system with an escape clause, delegating the decision on the magnitude of realignment to an inflation-averse central banker reduces the range of realignment costs for which the policy-maker necessarily devalues. Stressing the influence of devaluation expectations on currency crises, it is also shown that this strategy of delegation reduces the width of the multiple equilibria zone within which self-fulfilling crises occur, thus promoting further the exchange-rate system's stability. The higher the central banker's degree of inflation aversion, the greater is this reduction.