A Simple Test for Optimal Fiscal and Monetary Policy Regimes: The Case of Korea (Written in Korean)

The optimal choice of the tax rate and the inflation rate framework is extended to yield relevant interpretations for the optimal fiscal and monetary policy regime in Korea. To study the relationship between the government budget and monetary growth in different environments of policy coordination, two models assuming different degrees of fiscal dominance are developed. By modelling differing institutional arrangements of the fiscal and the monetary authority from an optimal government finance viewpoint, we find the optimal relationship among some important fiscal and monetary variables. By testing the existence of the relationship empirically, we find the characteristics of the optimal policy-mix regime in Korea. The first model-the strong from of fiscal dominance-studies the optimal collection of seigniorage in a period-by-period optimization with standard assumptions on the income velocity of money, deriving a general testable result: the optimal inflation/tax rate ratio co-vary with the marginal revenue ratio. The second model-the weak form of fiscal dominance-studies an implication of the inflationary bias of discretionary monetary policy in the presence of fiscal side distortions. This model shows that the tax rate and the inflation rate can have a positive correlation. Empirical tests of the theoretical results are done for the Korean economy for 1972-1989 period. The test results show that the macroeconomic policy regime in Korea can be characterized by the strong form of fiscal dominance, implying the importance of the government budget in explaining money growth and inflation