The Welfare Cost of Taxation and Endogenous Growth

Christophe Chamley ()

Boston University - Institute for Economic Development from Boston University, Institute for Economic Development

Abstract: The marginal efficiency costs of different taxes is analyzed in three models with endogenous growth, and the values are compared with those found in standard models. The models analyze how taxes af- fect (i) the trade-off between human capital accumulation and leisure, (ii) the intertemporal trade-off in consumption, and (iii) the trade-offs in a two-sector model. In general, the efficiency cost in models with endogenous growth may be greater or lower than in models with exogenous growth. When the value of the efficiency cost is very large, it is found to be very sensitive to the specification of the model, and it is reduced dramatically when government expenditures are a production input. In the two-sector model, the only tax which has a very high efficiency cost is the tax on time spent for human capital accumulation, and it may not be empirically important. It is verified that a positive impact of a tax reform on the long-term growth rate is not indicative of welfare 'improvement.

Date: 1992-12
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fth:bosecd:30

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