Fiscal Policy and Macroeconomic Stability

Fiscal Policy and Macroeconomic Stability PDF Author: Mr.Xavier Debrun
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1455200700
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
The paper revisits the link between fiscal policy and macroeconomic stability. Two salient features of our analysis are (1) a systematic test for the government’s ambivalent role as a shock absorber and a shock inducer—removing a downward bias present in existing estimates of the impact of automatic stabilizers—and (2) a broad sample of advanced and emerging market economies. Results provide strong support for the view that fiscal stabilization operates mainly through automatic stabilizers. Also, the destabilizing impact of policy changes not systematically related to the business cycle may not be as robust as suggested in the literature.

Government Size and Macroeconomic Stability

Government Size and Macroeconomic Stability PDF Author: Madhusudan S. Mohanty
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This article examines the potential role of government size in explaining differences in output volatility across OECD countries in the context of the latest recession. There is some evidence to suggest that government size as measured by the share of expenditure in GDP has a modest negative association with output volatility. Moreover, this link seems to have weakened further since the mid-1980s. Factors such as trade openness and exposure to terms-of-trade shocks as well as volatility of inflation appear important. Interestingly, the same set of factors seems to matter in explaining the severity of recession in OECD countries.

Fiscal Policy and Macroeconomic Stability

Fiscal Policy and Macroeconomic Stability PDF Author: Mr.Xavier Debrun
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1455200700
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
The paper revisits the link between fiscal policy and macroeconomic stability. Two salient features of our analysis are (1) a systematic test for the government’s ambivalent role as a shock absorber and a shock inducer—removing a downward bias present in existing estimates of the impact of automatic stabilizers—and (2) a broad sample of advanced and emerging market economies. Results provide strong support for the view that fiscal stabilization operates mainly through automatic stabilizers. Also, the destabilizing impact of policy changes not systematically related to the business cycle may not be as robust as suggested in the literature.

Structural Factors, Government Size and Macroeconomic Stability

Structural Factors, Government Size and Macroeconomic Stability PDF Author: Herbert Glejser
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 11

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Book Description


Macroeconomic Policy After the Conservative Era

Macroeconomic Policy After the Conservative Era PDF Author: Gerald A. Epstein
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521462907
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description
A conservative approach to economic growth has dominated policy circles for close to two decades. This approach holds that the key to restoring economic growth lies in reducing the size and role of government in the market economy through deregulation of the financial sector, privatization, and lower taxes. The contributors to this book argue that the principles of "trickle down" economics are of dubious validity, and have led to economic stagnation, high unemployment, and increasing inequality. They develop a new perspective on macroeconomic policy, one affirming that egalitarian and democratic economic structures are not only compatible with economic revival, but in fact offer the best hope for sustainable growth of living standards. Their alternative recognizes that markets have an important role to play, but only within the framework of macroeconomic stability, corrections of market failures, and egalitarian rules of the game.

Progressive Taxation, Macroeconomic Stabilization and Efficiency in Europe

Progressive Taxation, Macroeconomic Stabilization and Efficiency in Europe PDF Author: Carlos Martinez-Mongay
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economic policy
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
Debates the stability/efficiency tradeoff of automatic stabilizers. A simple AD-AS two-country model is presented and illustrates circumstances where a reduction in taxes can foster stabization. The testable implication from the model is that tax cuts can either increase or decrease volatility depending on the structure of the taxation system. Hence, lowering taxes for efficiency purposes may have not cost in terms of stabilization. This implication is tested for OECD countries over the period 1960-2000 taking account of the endogeneity and omitted variables issues identified in the literature. We found acceptably robust evidence that the size of governments in OECD countries has played a stabilizing role for both output and inflation. However, the relationship between government size and macroeconomic stability is not linear. The compostiion of public finances, in particular the tax mix, matters for output and price volatility. Distorting taxes, namely taxes on labor, might have negative effects on macroeconomic stability. Consequently, the potential trade off between stability and flexibility might not exist.

Fiscal Adjustment for Stability and Growth

Fiscal Adjustment for Stability and Growth PDF Author: Mr.James Daniel
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 9781589065130
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
The pamphlet (which updates the 1995 Guidelines for Fiscal Adjustment) presents the IMF’s approach to fiscal adjustment, and focuses on the role that sound government finances play in promoting macroeconomic stability and growth. Structured around five practical questions—when to adjust, how to assess the fiscal position, what makes for successful adjustment, how to carry out adjustment, and which institutions can help—it covers topics such as tax policies, debt sustainability, fiscal responsibility laws, and transparency.

Can Policies Affect Employment Intensity of Growth? A Cross-Country Analysis

Can Policies Affect Employment Intensity of Growth? A Cross-Country Analysis PDF Author: Davide Furceri
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 147550568X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
The aim of this paper is to provide new estimates of employment-output elasticities and assess the effect of structural and macroeocnomic policies on the employment-intensity of growth. Using an unbalanced panel of 167 countries over the period 1991 - 2009, the results suggest that structural policies aimed at increasing labor and product market flexibility and reducing government size have a significant and positive impact on employment elasticities. In addition, the results also suggest that in order to maximize the positive impact on the responsiveness of employment to economic activity, structural policies have to be complemented with macroeconomic policies aimed at increasing macroeconomic stability.

Government Size and Output Volatility

Government Size and Output Volatility PDF Author: Xavier Debrun
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economic stabilization
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Book Description
Prior to the launch of the euro, academics and policymakers were concerned that the loss of the monetary policy instrument would deprive participating countries of a vital tool to respond to country-specific economic shocks. This concern was rooted in the generally accepted proposition that market-based adjustment channels - i.e. labour mobility and capital flows - tended to be weaker among euro area countries than among regions of existing monetary unions such as the United States. Automatic stabilizers had long been regarded as playing a key role in macroeconomic stabilization. In particular, they were generally considered as having contributed significantly to the decrease of output volatility witnessed in Europe and in the United States after World War II, when the size of governments increased substantially on both sides of the Atlantic. Hence it was hoped that improved national fiscal policy could partly make up for the loss of monetary policy in stabilizing national macroeconomic conditions. The aim of the paper is to discuss this issue in the light of recent experience.

Resource Windfalls, Macroeconomic Stability and Growth

Resource Windfalls, Macroeconomic Stability and Growth PDF Author: Mr. Kazim Kazimov
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1455267465
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Book Description
We use a new dataset on non-resource GDP to examine the performance of commodity-exporting countries in terms of macroeconomic stability and economic growth in a panel of up to 129 countries during the period 1970-2007. Our main findings are threefold. First, we find that overall government spending in commodity-exporting countries has been procyclical. Second, we find that resource windfalls initially crowd out non-resource GDP which then increases as a result of the fiscal expansion. Third, we find that in the long run resource windfalls have negative effects on non-resource sector GDP growth. Yet, the effects turn out to be statistically insignificant when controlling for government spending. Both the effects of resource windfalls on macroeconomic stability and economic growth are moderated by the quality of political institutions.

Expansionary Austerity New International Evidence

Expansionary Austerity New International Evidence PDF Author: Mr.Daniel Leigh
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1455294691
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 41

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Book Description
This paper investigates the short-term effects of fiscal consolidation on economic activity in OECD economies. We examine the historical record, including Budget Speeches and IMFdocuments, to identify changes in fiscal policy motivated by a desire to reduce the budget deficit and not by responding to prospective economic conditions. Using this new dataset, our estimates suggest fiscal consolidation has contractionary effects on private domestic demand and GDP. By contrast, estimates based on conventional measures of the fiscal policy stance used in the literature support the expansionary fiscal contractions hypothesis but appear to be biased toward overstating expansionary effects.