On the behavior of fiscal policy with costly expectations

Abstract

This paper extends the Talvi and Végh (2005) model on the behavior of fiscal policy, introducing agent-based issues. Like in Talvi and Végh (2005), the theoretical framework is à la Barro (1979), but rational expectations are costly. The agents can choose between two strategies in forming expectations: buying costly rational expectations or freely following the trend. Unlike Talvi and Végh (2005), I show that procyclicality of fiscal policy is not necessarily the government s optimal behavior.