Optimal Automatic Stabilizers

Alisdair McKay
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Ricardo Reis

No 11337, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Should the generosity of unemployment benefits and the progressivity of income taxes de- pend on the presence of business cycles? This paper proposes a tractable model where there is a role for social insurance against uninsurable shocks to income and unemployment, as well as inefficient business cycles driven by aggregate shocks through matching frictions and nominal rigidities. We derive an augmented Baily-Chetty formula showing that the optimal generosity and progressivity depend on a macroeconomic stabilization term. Using a series of analytical examples, we show that this term typically pushes for an increase in generosity and progressivity as long as slack is more responsive to social programs in recessions. A calibration to the U.S. economy shows that taking concerns for macroeconomic stabilization into account raises the optimal unemployment benefits replacement rate by 13 percentage points but has a negligible impact on the optimal progressivity of the income tax. More generally, the role of social insurance programs as automatic stabilizers affects their optimal design.

Keywords: Counter-cyclical fiscal policy; Redistribution; Distortionary taxes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E62 H21 H30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac and nep-pbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP11337 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Journal Article: Optimal Automatic Stabilizers (2021)
Working Paper: Optimal automatic stabilizers (2021)
Working Paper: Optimal Automatic Stabilizers (2016)
Working Paper: Optimal automatic stabilizers (2016)
Working Paper: Optimal automatic stabilizers (2016)
Working Paper: Optimal Automatic Stabilizers (2016)
Working Paper: Optimal Automatic Stabilizers (2015)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11337

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP11337

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().