Reflections on fiscalist divergent price-paths

Abstract

In this paper I analyze the classes of price-paths arising from a non-Ricardian fiscal-monetary plan along the lines of the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level (FTPL), under a price-invariant nominal money supply rule in a standard Sidrauski-Brock model. I first show that fiscalist speculative deflationary paths are irrational bubbles. Then I argue that a fully autonomous fiscal policy is, in most cases, no implementable, regardless of the time-horizon, thus complementing Buiter's (2001, 2002) findings. Finally, I claim that, contrary to the FTPL's arguments, a speculative hyperinflation can never be a necessary result. This latter observation is taken as an evidence against the analogy drawn between the equilibrium value of a firm's stock and money, as recently suggested by some proponents of this new paradigm in monetary economics.[resumen de autor]