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Capital taxation during the U.S. Great Depression

Author

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  • Ellen R. McGrattan
Abstract
Previous studies of the U.S. Great Depression find that increased taxation contributed little to either the dramatic downturn or the slow recovery. These studies include only one type of capital taxation: a business profits tax. The contribution is much greater when the analysis includes other types of capital taxes. A general equilibrium model extended to include taxes on dividends, property, capital stock, and excess and undistributed profits predicts patterns of output, investment, and hours worked more like those in the 1930s than found in earlier studies. The greatest effects come from the increased tax on corporate dividends.

Suggested Citation

  • Ellen R. McGrattan, 2010. "Capital taxation during the U.S. Great Depression," Staff Report 451, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedmsr:451
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Rodrigo A. Cerda & José Tomás Valente, 2022. "The role of capital taxation on the business cycle: the case of Chile, 1960–2019," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 83-108, February.
    2. Roulleau-Pasdeloup, Jordan, 2023. "Analyzing Linear DSGE models: the Method of Undetermined Markov States," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    3. Troy Davig & Andrew Foerster, 2019. "Uncertainty and Fiscal Cliffs," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(7), pages 1857-1887, October.
    4. Jordan Roulleau-Pasdeloup & Anastasia Zhutova, 2015. "Labor Market Policies and the "Missing Deflation" Puzzle: Lessons from Hoover Policies during the U.S Great Depression," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 15.05, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    5. Anagnostopoulos, Alexis & Cárceles-Poveda, Eva & Lin, Danmo, 2012. "Dividend and capital gains taxation under incomplete markets," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(7), pages 599-611.
    6. Prescott, E.C., 2016. "RBC Methodology and the Development of Aggregate Economic Theory," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1759-1787, Elsevier.
    7. Born, Benjamin & Peter, Alexandra & Pfeifer, Johannes, 2013. "Fiscal news and macroeconomic volatility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 2582-2601.
    8. Daphne Chen & Shi Qi & Don Schlagenhauf, 2018. "Corporate Income Tax, Legal Form of Organization, and Employment," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 270-304, October.
    9. Leal-Ordoñez Julio C. & Mandujano Javier, 2019. "Fear of taxes," Working Papers 2019-09, Banco de México.
    10. Ellen R. McGrattan, 2015. "Taxing Wealth," Economic Policy Paper 15-4, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    11. Nancy Stokey, 2016. "Wait-and See: Investment Options under Policy Uncertainty," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 21, pages 246-265, July.
    12. Wright, Randall & Xiao, Sylvia Xiaolin & Zhu, Yu, 2018. "Frictional capital reallocation I: Ex ante heterogeneity," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 100-116.
    13. Kydland, Finn E. & Zarazaga, Carlos E.J.M., 2016. "Fiscal sentiment and the weak recovery from the Great Recession: A quantitative exploration," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 109-125.
    14. Paul Klein & Gustavo Ventura, 2018. "Taxation, Expenditures and the Irish Miracle," 2018 Meeting Papers 282, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    15. Calomiris, Charles W. & Mason, Joseph R. & Wheelock, David C., 2023. "Did doubling reserve requirements cause the 1937–38 recession? New evidence on the impact of reserve requirements on bank reserve demand and lending," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    16. Ferraro, Domenico & Ghazi, Soroush & Peretto, Pietro F., 2020. "Implications of tax policy for innovation and aggregate productivity growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    17. Jiang, Lunan, 2018. "Dividend taxes and investment during the U.S. Great Depression," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 147-151.
    18. Solis-Garcia, Mario, 2021. "A (pedagogical) note on the log-linearization of functions of several variables," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    19. Hansen, G.D. & Ohanian, L.E., 2016. "Neoclassical Models in Macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 2043-2130, Elsevier.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies

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