Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Small, open economies do better

The simple model of a small, open economy shows that tax cuts raise workers wages, often correct.  In the complete model, taxes pay for services with neutrality of debt, on average Jared complains: 
In this case, the model assumes that the US is a small, open economy such that capital inflows instantaneously fund more investment, such investment immediately boost productivity, and the benefits of faster productivity immediately accrue to paychecks. The simple model ignores the extent to which these inflows would raise the trade deficit as well as their impact on revenue losses and higher budget deficits.The model assumes away imperfect competition, which is relevant today as a) monopolistic concentration is an increasing problem, and b) the one thing economists agree on in this space is that in these cases, the benefits of the corporate cut flows to profits and shareholders, not workers, other than maybe some “rent sharing” with high-end workers.
It is it not an unrealistic model, there exist small, open economies for which this is true, taxes are well adjusted. 

What does it mean, Jared, when the simple model does not apply? It means government multipliers are less than one, fiscal expansion of debt makes matters worse.

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