经济增长中的公共财政,Public Finance in Models of Economic Growth,
Barro, Robert J,
Sala-i-Martin, Xavier,Review of Economic Studies.1992(59) Abstract: The recent literature on endogenous economic growthallows for effects of fiscal policy on long-term growth. If the socialrate of return on investment exceeds the private return, then taxpolicies that encourage investment can raise the growth rate and levelsof utility. An excess of the social return over the private return canreflect learning-by-doing with spillover effects, the financing ofgovernment consumption purchases with an income tax, and monopolypricing of new types of capital goods. Tax incentives for investmentare not called for if the private rate of return on investment equalsthe social return. This situation applies in growth models if theaccumulation of a broad concept of capital does not entail diminishingreturns, or if technological progress appears as an expanding varietyof consumer products. In growth models that incorporate publicservices, the optimal tax policy hinges on the characteristics of theservices. If the public services are publicly-provided private goods,which are rival and excludable, or publicly-provided public goods,which are non-rival and non- excludable, the lump-sum taxation issuperior to income taxation. Many types of public goods are subject tocongestion, and are therefore rival but to some extent non-excludable.In these cases, income taxation works approximately as a user fee andcan therefore be superior to lump-sum taxation. In particular, theincentives for investment and growth are too high if taxes are lumpsum. We argue that the congestion model applies to a wide array ofpublic expenditures, including transportation facilities, publicutilities, courts, and possibly national defense and police.