Fiscal Policy after the Financial Crisis
Alberto Alesina and Francesco Giavazzi
Abstract
The recent recession has brought fiscal policy back to the forefront, with economists and policy makers struggling to reach a consensus on highly political issues such as tax rates and government spending. At the heart of the debate are fiscal multipliers, whose size and sensitivity determine the power of such policies to influence economic growth. This book focuses on the effects of fiscal stimuli and increased government spending, with contributions that consider the measurement of the multiplier effect and its size. In the face of uncertainty over the sustainability of recent economic polic ... More
The recent recession has brought fiscal policy back to the forefront, with economists and policy makers struggling to reach a consensus on highly political issues such as tax rates and government spending. At the heart of the debate are fiscal multipliers, whose size and sensitivity determine the power of such policies to influence economic growth. This book focuses on the effects of fiscal stimuli and increased government spending, with contributions that consider the measurement of the multiplier effect and its size. In the face of uncertainty over the sustainability of recent economic policies, further contributions to the book discuss the merits of alternate means of debt reduction through decreased government spending or increased taxes. A final section examines how the short-term political forces driving fiscal policy might be balanced with aspects of the long-term planning governing monetary policy.
Keywords:
recession,
fiscal policy,
economists,
policy makers,
tax rates,
government spending,
fiscal multipliers,
economic growth,
fiscal stimuli,
multiplier effect
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2013 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226018447 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: September 2013 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226018584.001.0001 |
