Redistribution and the Monetary–Fiscal Policy Mix

47 Pages Posted: 14 Jun 2021 Last revised: 30 Jun 2021

See all articles by Saroj Bhattarai

Saroj Bhattarai

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics

Jae Won Lee

University of Virginia - Department of Economics

Choongryul Yang

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Date Written: March, 2021

Abstract

We show that the effectiveness of redistribution policy in stimulating the economy and improving welfare is directly tied to how much inflation it generates, which in turn hinges on monetary-fiscal adjustments that ultimately finance the transfers. We compare two distinct types of monetary-fiscal adjustments: In the monetary regime, the government eventually raises taxes to finance transfers, while in the fiscal regime, inflation rises, effectively imposing inflation taxes on public debt holders. We show analytically in a simple model how the fiscal regime generates larger and more persistent inflation than the monetary regime. In a quantitative application, we use a two-sector, two-agent New Keynesian model, situate the model economy in a COVID-19 recession, and quantify the effects of the transfer components of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. We find that the transfer multipliers are significantly larger under the fiscal regime—which results in a milder contraction—than under the monetary regime, primarily because inflationary pressures of this regime counteract the deflationary forces during the recession. Moreover, redistribution produces a Pareto improvement under the fiscal regime.

JEL Classification: E53, E62, E63

Suggested Citation

Bhattarai, Saroj and Lee, Jae Won and Yang, Choongryul, Redistribution and the Monetary–Fiscal Policy Mix (March, 2021). FEDS Working Paper No. 2021-13, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3865410 or http://dx.doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2021.013

Saroj Bhattarai (Contact Author)

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics ( email )

Austin, TX 78712
United States

Jae Won Lee

University of Virginia - Department of Economics ( email )

237 Monroe Hall
P.O. Box 400182
Charlottesville, VA 22904-418
United States

Choongryul Yang

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ( email )

20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20551
United States

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