Fiscal policy and liquidity traps with heterogeneous agents

•The dynamic effects of fiscal policies under limited asset market participation are explored.•The zero lower bound on nominal interest rates generates steady-state multiplicity.•Transfers to non-Ricardian consumers financed by debt-based taxes to Ricardian consumers escape liquidity traps.•Fiscal policy does not need to be potentially unsustainable to avoid disinflation.•Results radically differ from the standard single representative agent setup.

This paper explores global dynamics in a monetary model with limited asset market participation and the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates. It is shown that a rise in government transfers to 'non-Ricardian' consumers financed by debt-based taxes to 'Ricardian' consumers is capable of escaping disinflationary paths typically convergent to a liquidity trap. Fiscal policy does not need to be unsustainable at the low inflation steady state to avoid liquidity traps, as argued in the context of the standard single representative agent setup.