Abstract
This paper describes the empirical regularities relating fiscal policy variables, the level of development, and the rate of growth. We employ historical data, recent cross-section data, and newly constructed public investment series. Our main findings are: (i) there is a strong association between the develop ment level and the fiscal structure: poor countries rely heavily on international trade taxes, while income taxes are only important in developed economies; (ii) fiscal policy is influenced by the scale of the economy, measured by its population; (iii) investment in transport and communication is consistently correlated with growth; (iv) the effects of taxation are difficult to isolate empirically.
Keywords
EconomicsFiscal policyInvestment (military)MacroeconomicsMonetary economics
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Publication Info
- Year
- 1993
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 417-458
- Citations
- 1657
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
William Easterly,
Sérgio Rebelo
(1993).
Fiscal policy and economic growth.
Journal of Monetary Economics
, 32
(3)
, 417-458.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3932(93)90025-b
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1016/0304-3932(93)90025-b