Mr. Emanuel, in the current economic climate, the Obama administration’s course of action has been to pursue aggressive countercyclical fiscal policies designed to prevent further economic deterioration. Critics of these policies argue that:
1. The current fiscal stimulus is ineffective and has done little to create new jobs at a significant cost.
2. Monetary policy is a more effective lever to reduce unemployment and smooth the business cycle, due to its shorter implementation lag and ability to act in small multiples.
However, despite these arguments, significant evidence demonstrates the continued need for continued fiscal stimuli, in addition to the monetary policies already undertaken:
3. With interest rates floating near 0% and
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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that interest payments on US debt will increase from 1.2% of GDP in 2009 to 3.9% in 2020, which could significantly dampen GDP growth. Mankiw projects that the current deficits have already reduced national income by 3 to 6 percent, which could conceivably increase in the years to come.
2. Monetary Policy as a More Effective Lever Thus, critics argue that monetary policy is a more effective tool to fight recessions. Christina and David Romer demonstrated that fiscal policy rarely reacts with the immediacy necessary to enact change during a trough in economic activity. Romer finds that there has been no significance to discretionary fiscal policy during troughs, while monetary policy has a seemingly significant role during historical recessions. John Taylor agrees, stating that even in the face of the lower bound of zero on interest rates, additional measures such as quantitiative easing would prove effective countercyclical policy. Ultimately, both economists reach the conclusion that there is no significance to discretionary fiscal policy during a recession, instead determining that monetary policy is the more effective tool. These critics also point to several other advantages of monetary policy, including the ability to enact policy in small increments, roll back unsuccessful policies, and the short lag time associated with monetary policies.
Meanwhile, other factors may change, rendering inappropriate a particular fiscal policy. Nevertheless, discretionary fiscal policy is a valuable tool in preventing severe recession or severe demand-pull inflation.
The economic meaning of a recession is that the gross Domestic Product (GDP) has declined for two or more consecutive quarters. Unemployment rises, housing falls, stocks fall and the economy is in trouble. Whenever the government sees that the economy is entering a recession it is important for it to act. The U.S acted in two ways during the Great recession of 2008 through fiscal and monetary policies. Renaud Fillieule identifies that “ Monetary and credit expansions have been the main tools used by the U.S. government and central bank to try and recover economically from the Great Recession of 2008” (Fillieule r, Pg. 99 2016). These Keynesian policies are debatable among economist, none the less they were implemented and put the U.S on the road to recovery.
Fiscal sustainability is another public policy goal to overburden monetary policy. The gross and net debt/GDP ratios in the United States, the United Kingdom, the euro area and Japan show these four economies face the fiscal challenges. But there is larger problem which the governments have not yet change their spending and taxing. The political inconformity cause they are difficult to accept a sensible long run plan which can make the long run fiscal sustainability and short run growth at same time. So in this condition, many governments
A budgetary stimulus is a necessity to help avoid recessions. Fiscal policy is when a government adjusts its’ spending levels and tax rates in order to impact the nation’s economic status. It is linked to the monetary policy which involves a bank and affects the nation’s money source. When there is an increase in unemployment and the economy is soon reaching a recession, the fiscal policy will help maintain the economy. The fiscal policy will decrease taxes and widely promote government spending. On the other hand, when unemployment is declining and prices are escalating, the policy will reduce government spending and raise the prices on taxes. The Great Recession was a horrific economic crisis that led businesses and buyers to drastically
This paper is structured as follows. In order to better understand the Great Recession, the first section includes an examination on some of the key causes. Section two outlines some of the fiscal policy responses made by the government to the Great Recession. In the third section, relevant extant literature
One of the most interesting facets of The Great Recession of 2008 is that it didn’t really begin in 2008. The fiscal and monetary policy that prompted what we know now as the Great Recession of 2008 really began in 2006 and 2007. What was happening then and why did it take so long for the nation to feel the recession? The answers to those questions explain a great deal about how the Federal Reserve Bank operates and how the different ideologies of economics affect our nation (Sumner, 2011).
Monetary policies are ways that the Federal Reserve relies on to reach full employment, often targeting an inflation rate or interest rate to ensure price stability and it should be free from political influence. Through forward guidance the Federal Open Market committee (FOMC) provides to households, businesses, and investors about where the monetary policy stands and is expected to prevail in the future, given the current economic outlook. They try to fix the economy by regulating inflation because it will lead to a decline on the purchasing power. Monetary policies are to achieve low employment, stable prices and low interest rates. By enforcing effective monetary policy, the Fed tries to maintain stable prices and so to support conditions
This policy is results in faster results to speed up the economy for the short term. Fiscal Policy is later used to develop a plan of yearly actions and is a long term way to stabilize the economy. The next idea to stabilize the economy is a theory called monetarism which is the belief that if government did not interfere with the market economy that employment would be high and inflation low. Followers believe the government is the reason of downturns such as the recent recession.
With America in recovery from the attacks on our freedom and our economy, many wonder if we will return to phase one (expansion) and how long it will take to reach phase two (recession) again. The Keynesian Theorists of America believe that the government should actively pursue Monetary policies (enacted by the Federal Reserve Bank) and Fiscal policies (enacted by Congress) to reach adjustments to price, employment, and growth levels. In our full market economy, we must use these economic policies to control aggregate demand. When these policies are used to stimulate the economy during a recession, it is said that the government is pursuing expansionary economic policies.
Classical macroeconomists have been, if whatever, even more opposed to fiscal enlargement than to economic growth. Keynesian economists, however, gave monetary policy a primary role in combating recessions. Monetarists argued that economic coverage was useless so long as the cash supply changed into held regular. However, that sturdy view has come to be distinctly rare. maximum macroeconomists now agree that fiscal coverage, like economic coverage, can shift the aggregate call for curve. maximum macroeconomists additionally agree that the authorities need to no longer are searching for to stability the finances regardless of the nation of the financial system: they agree that the role of the finances as an automatic stabilizer enables preserve
The growing importance of monetary policy and the diminishing role played by fiscal policy in economic stabilization efforts may reflect both political and economic realities. Fighting inflation requires government to take unpopular actions
In periods of recession and high unemployment, the fiscal policy should stimulate economic activity by decreasing taxes,increasing government spending, or
The most effective policy is the fiscal policy. Before I explain why the fiscal policy is more effective, I need to explain the differences between the two policies. First, I will be explaining the monetary policy. According to the website “The Economic Times,” it clearly explains that the monetary policy is made up of actions of a central bank, regulatory committee, and a currency board. They are involved in determining the size and the interest rate of money supply. The policy maintained actions such as buying or selling government bonds and change the amount of money banks are required to keep in the bank. The federal reserves are in charge of the monetary policy. There are two types of monetary policy, which are called contractionary and
Objective I choose to research and write on the topic of monetary policy. My two main sources of information were www.federalreserve.gov and www.frsbf.org. From my research I would define monetary policy as the macroeconomic act of keeping the country financially stable. According to www.frsbf.org “The object of monetary policy is to influence the performance of the economy as reflected in such factors as inflation, economic output, and employment. It works by affecting demand across the economy—that is, people's and firms' willingness to spend on goods and services”. The information that I located suggested that the main issues that monetary policy deals with are inflation
Increased spending on investment adds to aggregate demand and helps to restore normal levels of production and employment.Fiscal policy, on the other hand, can provide an additional tool to combat recessions and is particularly useful when the tools of monetary policy lose their effectiveness. When the government cuts taxes, it increases households’ disposable income, which encourages them to increase spending on consumption. When the government buys goods and services, it adds directly to aggregate demand. Moreover, these fiscal actions can have multiplier effects: Higher aggregate demand leads to higher incomes, which in turn induces additional consumer spending and further increases in aggregate demand.Traditional Keynesian analysis indicates that increases in government purchases are a more potent tool than decreases in taxes. When the government gives a dollar in tax cuts to a household, part of that dollar may be saved rather than spent. The part of the dollar that is saved does not contribute to the aggregate demand for goods and services. By contrast, when the government spends a dollar buying a good or service, that dollar immediately and fully adds to aggregate demand.