Essays on Exchange-Rate-Based Stabilization Under Fiscal Constraints

dc.contributor.advisorCalvo, Guillermo A.en_US
dc.contributor.authorGueorguiev, Nikolay Kiroven_US
dc.contributor.departmentEconomicsen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2005-02-02T06:29:08Z
dc.date.available2005-02-02T06:29:08Z
dc.date.issued2004-11-19en_US
dc.description.abstractExchange-rate-based inflation stabilization programs cause a sizable loss of inflation tax revenue and thus open a fiscal gap. The stabilization literature usually assumes that this gap can be closed by raising lump-sum (nondistortionary) taxes and/or cutting lump-sum transfers. As such policies are difficult to implement in practice, these two essays analyze two alternatives. The first essay explores the implications of raising a conventional income tax to make up for the loss of inflation tax revenue in the context of an exchange-rate-based stabilization program in an open economy with sticky prices and monopolistic competition. The combination of smaller monetary and larger tax distortion in the low-inflation steady state results in lower consumption and output of nontradable goods than in the high-inflation equilibrium. In addition, the recession accompanying the transition to the low-inflation steady state produces welfare losses. Nevertheless, the net welfare result is a gain, as larger money balances and more leisure time outweigh the cost of lower consumption. The essay also explores the sensitivity of this welfare trade-off to various structural characteristics of the economy and exogenous factors. The second essay assumes that both tax and spending policies are inflexible and looks instead at the role of monetary policy in closing the emerging fiscal gap. It shows that in a closed economy a monetary expansion can lower the real interest rate. This benefits the budget both by generating a money demand boom, which expands the base of the inflation tax, and by lowering the budget's interest payments. These effects are, however, dependent on the credibility of the stabilization program, as the same-size monetary expansion fails to achieve fiscal sustainability when credibility is lacking.en_US
dc.format.extent539584 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2014
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledEconomics, Generalen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledEconomics, Theoryen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledexchange-rate-based stabilizationen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledinflation taxen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolleddistortionary taxationen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledwelfare trade-off between inflation and taxationen_US
dc.titleEssays on Exchange-Rate-Based Stabilization Under Fiscal Constraintsen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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