Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/303467 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
EIQ Paper No. 184
Publisher: 
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), European Institute, London
Abstract: 
In this paper we provide a formal test of Barro's tax-smoothing model, using Spanish data covering the period 1850-2022. First, we found that the tax-tilting component has been very important for the Spanish government and is a symptom of the existence of a public deficit bias that has existed in Spanish public finances over the sample period. Second, our empirical findings do also support the existence of tax-smoothing in Spanish fiscal policy throughout the sample period. Consequently, there is some evidence that the Spanish economy has engaged in tax-smoothing behaviour over the period analysed, as the Spanish governments responded to expected future changes in government spending by running budget imbalances, rather than altering contemporaneous government revenues.
Subjects: 
Optimal taxation
Public debt management
Tax-smoothing
Tax-tilting
Spain
JEL: 
E62
H21
H62
O52
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.