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SUMMARY:Taxes and growth: new narrative evidence from interwar Britain - N
 icholas Dimsdale\, University of Oxford
DTSTART:20190211T170000Z
DTEND:20190211T183000Z
UID:TALK116509@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Duncan Needham
DESCRIPTION:The impact of fiscal policy on economic activity is still a ma
 tter of great debate. And\, ever since Keynes first commented on it\, inte
 rwar Britain\, 1918- 1939\, has remained a particularly contentious case |
  not least because of its high debt environment and turbulent business cyc
 le. This debate has often focused on the effects of government spending\, 
 but little is known about the effects of tax changes. In fact\, a number o
 f tax reforms in the period focused on long-term and social objectives\, o
 ften reflecting the personality of British Chancellors. Based on extensive
  historiographical research\, we apply a narrative approach to the interwa
 r period in Britain and isolate a new series of exogenous tax changes. We 
 find that tax changes have a sizeable effect on GDP\, with multipliers aro
 und 0.5 on impact and exceeding 2 within two years. Our estimates contribu
 te to the historical debate about fiscal policy in the interwar period and
  are remarkably similar to the sizeable tax multipliers found after WWII
LOCATION:Darwin College\, Old Library
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