Bassam Awad

Fiscal Policy in a Growth Model with a Public Capital Externality: Computational Accuracy and Optimal Investments in Public, Private, and Human Capital Bassam Awad

This book addresses three questions that are central to the analysis of fiscal policy. First, how good are linearization and higher-order approximations in an endogenous growth model with public capital? Second, how important are the transitional dynamics in assessing fiscal policy alternatives when comparing the long-run economic growth and welfare? Third, is a consumption tax optimal in an economy with public and private human capital when the tax structure is time-invariant? To answer these questions, I have used an endogenous growth model where the growth is driven by accumulation of human capital and fueled by a public capital externality. I conclude: (i) the policies that involve the highest rates of economic growth do not always provide the highest welfare; (ii) the traditional methods used to analyze the impact of tax policy alternatives might involve significant approximation errors, and the use of actual transitional path in analyzing fiscal policy in this book eliminates this problem; and (iv) the long-run welfare benefits of fiscal policy reform may take years to be realized, with welfare losses accruing in the short-run.