Did fiscal stimulus end the recession? In the global recession of 2008 and 2009 most countries...

Did fiscal stimulus end the recession?

In the global recession of 2008 and 2009 most countries engaged in massive fiscal stimulus programs.

Did these policies help to moderate the recession and speed the recovery?

© 2011 Pearson Education

Fiscal Policy16

When you have completed your study of this chapter, you will be able to

1 Describe the federal budget process and the recent history of revenues, outlays, deficits, and debts.

2 Explain the supply-side effects of fiscal policy on employment and potential GDP.

3 Explain the demand-side effects of fiscal policy on employment and real GDP.

CHAPTER CHECKLIST

16.1 THE FEDERAL BUDGET

The federal budget is an annual statement of the revenues, outlays, and surplus or deficit of the government of the United States.

The federal budget has two purposes:

1. To finance the activities of the federal government

2. To achieve macroeconomic objectives

Fiscal policy is the use of the federal budget to achieve the macroeconomic objectives of high and sustained economic growth and full employment.


The Institutions and Laws

The President and the Congress make the budget and develop fiscal policy on a fixed annual time line.

Fiscal year is a year that begins on October 1 and ends on September 30 of the next year.


Budget Surplus, DeficitBudget balance = Tax revenues – Outlays

The government has a balanced budget when tax revenues equal outlays (budget balance is zero).

The government has a budget surplus when tax revenues exceed outlays (budget balance is positive).

The government has a budget deficit when outlays exceed tax revenues budget balance is negative).


Surplus, Deficit, and DebtThe government borrows to finance a budget deficit and repays its debt when it has a budget surplus.

The amount of debt outstanding that arises from past budget deficits is called national debt.

Debt at end of 2010 = Debt at end of 2009 + Budget deficit in 2010.


The Federal Budget 2010


On the tax revenues side of the budget:

The largest item is personal income taxes―taxes that people pay on wages and salaries and on interest.

The second largest item is Social Security taxes―taxes paid by workers and employers to fund Social Security benefits.

Corporate income taxes, which are the taxes paid by corporations on their profits, are much smaller.

Indirect taxes, the smallest revenue source, are sales taxes and customs and excise taxes.


On the outlays side of the budget:

The largest item is transfer payments.

Transfer payments are Social Security benefits, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, unemployment benefits, and other cash benefits paid to individuals and firms.

Expenditure on goods and services includes the government’s defense and homeland security budgets.

Debt interest is the interest on the national debt.

Schools of Thought and Cracks in Today’s Consensus

The three main schools of macroeconomic thought are classical, Keynesian, and monetarist macroeconomics.

Today’s consensus as one that takes insights from each of the schools.

While there is a consensus, the macroeconomic events of 2008 and 2009 have placed the consensus under some stress and cracks are emerging.

The main crack is between the views of Keynesian economists and others.

16.2 THE DEMAND SIDE: STABILIZING REAL GDP

The Keynesian View

The Keynesian view is that fiscal stimulus—an increase in government outlays or a decrease in tax revenues—boosts real GDP and creates or saves jobs.

Fiscal stimulus boosts real GDP and employment by increasing aggregate demand and the fiscal stimulus has a multiplier effect.

Keynesians say that these positive effects of fiscal stimulus make it a vital and powerful tool in the fight against deep recession and depression.


The Mainstream View

The mainstream view is that Keynesians overestimate the multiplier effects of fiscal stimulus and their effects are small, short-lived, and incapable of working fast enough to be useful.

Mainstream economists say that government stimulus “crowds out” investment.

The durable results of a fiscal stimulus are bigger government, lower potential GDP, a slower real GDP growth rate, and a greater burden of government debt on future generations.



Fiscal Policy and Aggregate DemandFiscal policy is a change in government outlays or in tax revenues.

Other things remaining the same, a change in any item in the government budget changes aggregate demand.

The change in aggregate demand has a multiplier effect— aggregate demand changes by a greater amount than the initial change in the item in the government budget.


Government Expenditure Multiplier

The government expenditure multiplier is the effect of a change in government expenditure on goods and services on aggregate demand.

An increase in aggregate expenditure increases aggregate demand, which increases real GDP.

The increase in real GDP induces an increase in consumption expenditure, which further increases aggregate demand.


The Tax Multiplier

The tax multiplier is the effect of a change in taxes on aggregate demand.

A decrease in taxes increases disposable income.

The increase in disposable income increases consumption expenditure and aggregate demand.

With increased aggregate demand, employment and real GDP increase and consumption expenditure increases yet further.


So a decrease in taxes works like an increase in government expenditure.

Both actions increase aggregate demand and have a multiplier effect.

The magnitude of the tax multiplier is smaller than the government expenditure multiplier.

The reason: A $1 tax cut increases aggregate expenditure by less than $1 whereas a $1 increase in government expenditure increases aggregate expenditure by $1.


The Transfer Payments Multiplier

The transfer payments multiplier is the effect of a change in transfer payments on aggregate demand.

This multiplier works like the tax multiplier but in the opposite direction.

An increase in transfer payments increases disposable income, which increases consumption expenditure.

With increased consumption expenditure, employment and real GDP increase and consumption expenditure increases yet further.


The Balanced Budget Multiplier

The balanced budget multiplier is the effect on aggregate demand of a simultaneous change in government expenditure and taxes that leaves the budget balance unchanged.

The balanced budget multiplier is not zero—it is positive—because the government expenditure multiplier is larger than the tax multiplier.


A Successful Fiscal StimulusIf real GDP is below potential GDP, the government might pursue a fiscal stimulus by:

• Increasing government expenditure on goods and services,

• Increasing transfer payments,

• Cutting taxes, or

• A combination of all three.Cash for Clunkers

was a fiscal stimulus.


Potential GDP is $13 trillion, real GDP is $12 trillion, and

1. There is a $1 trillion recessionary gap.

2. An increase in government expenditure or a tax cut increases expenditure by ∆E.

Figure 16.2 illustrates a fiscal stimulus.


3. The multiplier increases induced expenditure. The AD curve shifts rightward to AD1.

The price level rises to 110, real GDP increases to $13 trillion, and the recessionary gap is eliminated.


A Successful Contractionary Fiscal PolicyIf real GDP is above potential GDP, the government might pursue a contractionary fiscal policy in an attempt to restore full employment.

Contractionary fiscal policy is a decrease in government expenditure on goods and services, a decrease in transfer payments, or an increase in taxes designed to decrease aggregate demand.


Figure 16.3 illustrates contractionary fiscal policy.

Potential GDP is $13 trillion, real GDP is $14 trillion, and

1. There is a $1 trillion inflationary gap.

2. A decrease in government expenditure or a tax rise decreases expenditure by ∆E.


3. The multiplier decreases induced expenditure. The AD curve shifts leftward to AD1.

The price level falls to 110, real GDP decreases to$13 trillion, and the inflationary gap is eliminated.


Automatic and Discretionary Fiscal StimulusFiscal policy action that are aimed at stimulating aggregate demand can be automatic or discretionary.

Automatic Fiscal Policy

Automatic fiscal policy is a fiscal policy action that is triggered by the state of the economy.

For example, an increase in unemployment induces an increase in payments to the unemployed or in a recession tax receipts decrease as incomes fall.


Discretionary Fiscal Policy

Discretionary fiscal policy is a fiscal policy action that is initiated by an act of Congress.

For example, an increase in defense spending or a cut in the income tax rate.


Automatic Fiscal PolicyA consequence of tax revenues and outlays that fluctuate with real GDP.

Automatic stabilizers are features of fiscal policy that stabilize real GDP without explicit action by the government.

Induced Taxes

Induced taxes are taxes that vary with real GDP.


Needs-Tested Spending

Needs-tested spending is spending on programs that entitle suitably qualified people and businesses to receive benefits— benefits that vary with need and with the state of the economy.

Induced taxes and needs-tested spending decrease the multiplier effects of change in autonomous expenditure and moderate both expansions and recessions and make real GDP more stable.


Discretionary Fiscal PolicyThe use of discretionary fiscal policy is seriously hampered by four factors:

•Law-making time lag•Shrinking area of law-maker discretion•Estimating potential GDP•Economic forecasting


Law-Making Time Lag

The amount of time it takes Congress to pass the laws needed to change taxes or spending.

This process takes time because each member of Congress has a different idea about what is the best tax or spending program to change, so long debates and committee meetings are needed to reconcile conflicting views.


Shrinking Area of Law-Maker Discretion

Expenditure on the military and on homeland security and very large expansion in expenditure on entitlement programs such as Medicare has increased.

The result is that around 80 percent of the federal budget is effectively off limits for discretionary fiscal policy action.

The 20 percent that is available for discretionary change include items such as education and the space program, which are hard to cut.


Estimating Potential GDP

It is not easy to tell whether real GDP is below, above, or at potential GDP.

So a discretionary fiscal action might move real GDP away from potential GDP instead of toward it.

This problem is a serious one because too much fiscal stimulation brings inflation and too little might bring recession.


Economic Forecasting

Fiscal policy changes take a long time to enact in Congress and yet more time to become effective.

So fiscal policy must target forecasts of where the economy will be in the future.

Economic forecasting has improved enormously in recent years, but it remains inexact and subject to error.

So for a second reason, discretionary fiscal action might move real GDP away from potential GDP and create the very problems it seeks to correct.

Did Fiscal Stimulus End the Recession?

EYE on FISCAL STIMULUS

In February 2009, in the depths of the 2008–2009 recession, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a $787 billion fiscal stimulus package.

This Act of Congress is an example of discretionary fiscal policy.

Did this action by Congress contribute to ending the 2008–2009 recession and making the recession less severe than it might have been?

The Obama Administration economists are confident that the stimulus package made a significant contribution to easing and ending the recession.



But many, and perhaps most, economists don’t agree.

They think that the stimulus package played a small role and that the truly big story is not discretionary fiscal policy but the role played by automatic stabilizers.

What were the fiscal policy actions and their likely effects?

President Obama promised that fiscal stimulus would save or create 650,000 jobs by the end of the 2009 summer.

In October 2009, the Administration economists declared that the fiscal stimulus had saved or created the promised 650,000 jobs.



This claim of success might be correct, but it isn’t startling and it isn’t a huge claim. Why?

How much GDP would 650,000 people produce?

In 2009, each employed person produced $100,000 of real GDP on average. So 650,000 people would produce $65 billion of GDP.

But only 20 percent of the $787 billion stimulus package had been spent (or taken in tax breaks), so the stimulus was only about $160 billion.

If government outlays of $160 billion created $65 billion of GDP, the multiplier was 0.4 (65/160 = 0.4).



This multiplier is much smaller than the 1.6 that the Obama economists say will eventually occur.

They believe, like Keynes, that the multiplier starts out small and gets larger over time as spending plans respond to rising incomes.

An initial increase in expenditure increases aggregate expenditure.

But the increase in aggregate expenditure generates higher incomes, which in turn induces greater consumption expenditure.



Automatic Fiscal Policy

Government revenue is sensitive to the state of the economy.

When personal incomes and corporate profits fall, income tax revenues fall too.

When unemployment increases, outlays on unemployment benefits and other social welfare benefits increase.

These fiscal policy changes are automatic. They occur with speed and without help from Congress.



In 2009, real GDP fell to 6 percent below potential GDP—a recessionary gap of $800 billion. Tax revenues crashed and transfer payments skyrocketed.

The figure shows that the automatic stabilizers were much larger than the discretionary actions.

Automatic action played the major role in limiting job losses.

16.3 THE SUPPLY SIDE: POTENTIAL GDP AND GROWTH

Fiscal policy influences the output gap by changing aggregate demand and real GDP relative to potential GDP.

But fiscal policy also influences potential GDP and the growth rate of potential GDP.

These influences on potential GDP and economic growth arise because

• The government provides public goods and services that increase productivity and

• Taxes change the incentives the people face.


Supply-side effects are the effects of fiscal policy on potential GDP.

Supply-side effects operate more slowly than the demand-side effects.

Supply-side effects are often ignored in times of recession when the focus is on fiscal stimulus and restoring full employment.

But in the long run, the supply-side effects of fiscal policy dominate and determine potential GDP.


Full Employment and Potential GDPThe higher the real wage rate, other things remaining the same, the smaller is the quantity of labor demanded and the greater is the quantity of labor supplied.

When the real wage rate has adjusted to make the quantity of labor demanded equal to the quantity of labor supplied, there is full employment.

When the quantity of labor is the full-employment quantity, real GDP equals potential GDP.


Fiscal Policy, Employment, and Potential GDPBoth sides of the government's budget influences potential GDP.

Public Goods and Productivity

The expenditure side provides public goods and services that enhance productivity.

The increase in productivity increases potential GDP.


Taxes and Incentives

On the revenue side, taxes modify incentives and change the full-employment quantity of labor, as well as the amount of saving and investment.

An increase in taxes drives a wedge between the price paid by the buyer and the price received by a seller.

In the labor market, tax wedge is the gap between the before-tax wage rate and the after-tax wage rate.

The result is a decrease in the full-employment quantity of labor and a decrease in potential GDP.


Full Employment with No Income Tax

The wage rate is $30 an hour and 250 billion hours of labor is employed.


The economy is at full employment with 250 billion hours of labor employed.

The production function shows that when 250 billion hours are employed, potential GDP is $14 trillion.


The Effects of the Income Tax

The income tax

1. Decreases the supply of labor.

2. Creates a tax wedge between the wage rate that firms pay and workers receive.

3. The before-tax wage rate rises to $35 an hour.

4. The after-tax wage rate falls to $20 an hour.

5. Full employment decreases to 200 billion hours.



5. Full employment decreases to 200 billion hours.

6. Potential GDP decreases to $14 trillion.


Changes in the Tax Rate

A change in the income tax rate changes equilibrium employment and potential GDP.

In the example that you’ve just worked through, the tax rate is about 43 percent—a $15 tax on a $35 wage rate.

If the income tax rate is increased, the supply of labor decreases yet more and the LS + tax curve shifts farther leftward.

Equilibrium employment and potential GDP decrease.


Taxes, Deficits, and Economic GrowthFiscal policy influences economic growth in two ways:

1. Taxes drive a wedge between the interest rate paid by borrowers and the interest rate received by lenders.

2. If there is a budget deficit, government borrowing to finance the deficit competes with firms’ borrowing to finance investment and to some degree, government borrowing “crowds out” private investment.


Interest Rate Tax Wedge

Lenders pay an income tax on the interest they receive from borrowers, which creates an interest rate tax wedge.

A tax on interest lowers the quantity of saving and investment and slows the growth rate of real GDP.

A tax on interest income creates a Lucas wedge—an ever widening gap between potential GDP and the potential GDP that might have been.


Investment and saving plans depend on the real after-tax interest rate.

The real interest rate equals the nominal interest rate minus the inflation rate.

So the after-tax interest rate equals the real interest rate minus the income tax paid on interest income.

But the nominal interest rate, not the real interest rate, determines the amount of tax to be paid; and the higher the inflation rate, the higher is the nominal interest rate, and the higher is the true tax rate on interest income.


Deficits and Crowding Out

A tax cut that increases the budget deficit brings an increase in the demand of loanable funds to firms.

The interest rate rises and crowds out private investment.

But the lower income tax rate shrinks the tax wedge and stimulates employment, saving, and investment.

But a higher budget deficit decreases investment.


Combined Demand-Side and Supply-Side Effects

A fiscal stimulus increases aggregate demand and potential GDP.

When potential GDP increases aggregate supply increases.

Equilibrium real GDP increases, but the price level might rise, fall, or not change.

Figure 16.5 shows the combined effects of fiscal policy when fiscal policy has no effect on the price level.


1. A tax cut increases disposable income, which increases aggregate demand from AD0 to AD1.

A tax cut also strengthens the incentive to work, save, and invest, which increases aggregate supply from AS0 to AS1.

2. Real GDP increases.


Long-Run Fiscal Policy EffectsThe long-run consequences are the most profound ones.

If investment is crowded out by a large budget deficit, the economic growth rate slows and potential GDP gets ever farther below what it might have been as the Lucas wedge widens.

If a large budget deficit persists, debt increases, confidence in the value of money is eroded, and inflation erupts.

It is vital that government outlays and budget deficits be kept under control.

Did fiscal stimulus end the recession? In the global recession of 2008 and 2009 most countries...

Documents

Transcript of Did fiscal stimulus end the recession? In the global recession of 2008 and 2009 most countries...