Econ:214 Intermediate Macroeconomics
Homework 4
Due Date: Feb 9, 2024
Problem 1. Consider the two-period model. Suppose that the interest earnings are taxed (or the private debts receive credit). That is the lenders and borrowers are facing effective real interest rate (1 − x)r, where 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 is the tax rate for a lender, and is the credit for a borrower. Write down the current and future budget constraints, and derive the lifetime budget constraint. How does the implementation of interest tax (or credit) affect current consumption, future consumption and saving? Use diagrams to show how your results depend on income and substitution effects and consider the case where the consumer is initially a borrower or a lender.
Problem 2. A consumer receives income y in the current period, income y′ in the future period, and pays taxes of t and t′ in the current and future periods, respectively. The consumer can borrow and lend a the real interest rate r. However, the consumer faces a constraint on how much he or she can borrow, much like the credit limit typically placed on a credit card account. That is, the consumer cannot borrow more than x, where x < we−(y − t), with we denoting lifetime wealth. How does the lifetime budget constraint look like? Use diagrams to illustrate the effect of an increase in the borrowing limit x on current consumption, future consumption and saving, and explain your results.
Problem 3. Suppose in our two-period model of the economy that the government, instead of borrowing in the current period, runs a government loan program. That is, loans are made to consumers at the market real interest rate r, with the aggregate quantity of loans made in the current period denoted by L. Government loans are financed by lump-sum taxes on consumers in the current period, and we assume that government spending is zero in the current and future periods. In the future period, when consumers repay the government loans, the government rebates this amount as lump-sum transfers (negative taxes) to consumers.
(a) Write down the government’s current-period budget constraint and its future-period budget constraint.
(b) Determine the present-value budget constraint of the government.
(c) Write down the lifetime budget constraint of a consumer.
(d) Show that the size of the government loan program (i.e., the quantity L) has no effect on current consumption, future consumption, and the equilibrium real interest rate. Explain this result. How is it related to the Ricardian Equivalence Theorem?
Problem 4. Consider a two-period economy where the credit market is imperfect. The real interest rate of lending, r1, is smaller than the rate of borrowing, r2. If the current-period output changes, use diagrams to illustrate how does it affect the current-period consump- tion? Show that the credit market imperfection can resolve the issue of excess volatility in consumption.
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