A Note on Growth, Welfare and Public Policy

ABSTRACT ln this note the growth and welfare effects of fiscal and monetary policies are investigated in four economies where public investment is part of the productive process. It is shown that growth is maximized at positive levels of income tax and inflation but that there is no direct relationship between government size, productivity and growth or between inflation and growth. However, unless there are no transfers, no political conflict or public goods in the economy, maximization of growth does not imply welfare maximization and the optimal tax rate and government size are greater than those that maximize growth. Money is not superneutral and the optimal rate of money creation is below the maximizing rate of growth.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: FERREIRA,PEDRO CAVALCANTI
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Centro de Economia Política 2001
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0101-31572001000100106
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!