Monetary and fiscal policies in a heterogeneous-agent economy

摘要

We study the effects of long-run inflation and income taxation in an economy where households face uninsurable idiosyncratic risks. We construct a tractable competitive-search framework that generates dispersion of prices, income and wealth. We analytically characterize the stationary equilibrium and the policy effects on individual choices. Quantitative analysis finds that monetary and fiscal policies have distinct effects on macro aggregates, such as output, savings and wealth, income and consumption inequalities. There is a hump-shaped relationship between welfare and the respective policies. Overall, welfare is maximized by a deviation from the Friedman rule, paired with distortionary income taxation.