IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecorec/v86y2010is1p61-68.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When Expansionary Fiscal Policy is Contractionary: A Neoklassikal Scenario

Author

Listed:
  • WILLIAM COLEMAN

Abstract

The paper presents a simple theoretical account of how an increase in government purchases may reduce total employment. It is shown that in a ‘neoklassikal’ model – in which utility maximising consumption choices are combined with a fixed‐coefficient technology – an increase in government purchases will reduce the demand for labour at the given wage rate. The reasoning turns on the link between optimising consumption behaviour and employment in the investment sector. An increase in G will (as a matter of arithmetic) make current consumption scarcer relative to future consumption; and thereby reduce the valuation of future consumption in terms of current consumption. As labour is valued according to its contribution to future consumption (through its contribution to capital formation), it follows that an increase in G will reduce the wage at any given volume of employment.

Suggested Citation

  • William Coleman, 2010. "When Expansionary Fiscal Policy is Contractionary: A Neoklassikal Scenario," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 86(s1), pages 61-68, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:86:y:2010:i:s1:p:61-68
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4932.2010.00678.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2010.00678.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2010.00678.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    2. Milton Friedman, 1957. "Introduction to "A Theory of the Consumption Function"," NBER Chapters, in: A Theory of the Consumption Function, pages 1-6, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. G. C. Peden, 1984. "The “Treasury View” on Public Works and Employment in the Interwar Period," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 37(2), pages 167-181, May.
    4. Anonymous, 1962. "International Monetary Fund," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 619-631, July.
    5. Anonymous, 1962. "International Monetary Fund," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 230-231, January.
    6. Anonymous, 1962. "International Monetary Fund," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 876-878, October.
    7. Milton Friedman, 1957. "A Theory of the Consumption Function," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number frie57-1.
    8. Tony Makin, 1998. "When Contractionary Fiscal Policy Is Expansionary," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 5(4), pages 419-426.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ross Guest & Anthony J Makin, 2012. "Fiscal stimulus: an overlapping generations analysis," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 17(2), pages 1-25, September.
    2. Ross Guest & Anthony J. Makin, 2011. "In the Long Run, the Multiplier is Dead: Lessons from a Simulation," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 18(1), pages 13-22.
    3. Ross Guest & Anthony J. Makin, 2011. "The Dynamic Effects of Fiscal Stimulus in a Two Sector Open Economy," DEGIT Conference Papers c016_045, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    4. Anthony J. Makin, 2015. "Expansionary Versus Contractionary Government Spending," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 33(1), pages 56-65, January.
    5. Ross Guest & Anthony Makin, 2013. "Special Issue. Guest Editor: Zhihao Yu," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 609-626, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cosimo Magazzino, 2012. "Fiscal Policy, Consumption and Current Account in the European Countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(2), pages 1330-1344.
    2. Boivin, Jean & Kiley, Michael T. & Mishkin, Frederic S., 2010. "How Has the Monetary Transmission Mechanism Evolved Over Time?," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 8, pages 369-422, Elsevier.
    3. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2014. "Monetary transmission mechanism analysis in a small, open economy: the case of Vietnam," OSF Preprints ybc8p, Center for Open Science.
    4. Frenkel, Jacob A. & Mussa, Michael L., 1985. "Asset markets, exchange rates and the balance of payments," Handbook of International Economics, in: R. W. Jones & P. B. Kenen (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 14, pages 679-747, Elsevier.
    5. Jacob A. Frenkel & Assaf Razin, 1984. "Budget Deficits and Rates of Interest in the World Economy," NBER Working Papers 1354, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Jacob A. Frenkel & Assaf Razin, 1984. "Fiscal Policies, Debt, and International Economic Interdependence," NBER Working Papers 1266, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. António Afonso & José Carlos Coelho, 2021. "60%, -4% And 6%, a Tale of Thresholds for EU Fiscal and Current Account Developments," EconPol Working Paper 69, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    8. Tarlok Singh, 2007. "Intertemporal Optimizing Models Of Trade And Current Account Balance: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 25-64, February.
    9. Frederick T. Furlong, 1989. "International dimensions of U.S. economic policy in the 1980s," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Spr, pages 3-16.
    10. Obstfeld, Maurice, 1980. "Imperfect asset substitutability and monetary policy under fixed exchange rates," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 177-200, May.
    11. Mr. Fabio Scacciavillani & Mr. Malcolm D. Knight, 1998. "Current Accounts: What Is Their Relevance for Economic Policymaking?," IMF Working Papers 1998/071, International Monetary Fund.
    12. António Afonso & José Carlos Coelho, 2021. "Current Account Targeting Hypothesis versus Twin Deficit Hypothesis: The EMU Experience of Portugal," EconPol Working Paper 68, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    13. António Afonso & José Carlos Coelho, 2021. "Fiscal and current account imbalances: the cases of Germany and Portugal," Working Papers REM 2021/0208, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    14. Jacob A. Frenkel & Assaf Razin, 1987. "The International Transmission of Fiscal Expenditures and Budget Deficits in the World Economy," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka (ed.), Economic Policy in Theory and Practice, chapter 2, pages 51-100, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. Stephen M. Miller & Frank S. Russek, 1989. "Are The Twin Deficits Really Related?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 7(4), pages 91-115, October.
    16. António Afonso & José Carlos Coelho, 2023. "Twin deficits through the looking glass: time-varying analysis in the Euro area," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2087-2110, August.
    17. Mr. Tamim Bayoumi, 2015. "The Dog That Didn’t Bark: The Strange Case of Domestic Policy Cooperation in the “New Normal”," IMF Working Papers 2015/156, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Afonso, António & Coelho, José Carlos, 2022. "The role of fiscal policies for external imbalances: Evidence from the European Union," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(2).
    19. Nikolina E. Kosteletou, 2013. "Financial Integration, Euro and the Twin Deficits of Southern Eurozone Countries," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 60(2), pages 161-178, April.
    20. Manamba Epaphra, 0. "The Twin Deficits Hypothesis: An Empirical Analysis for Tanzania," Romanian Economic Journal, Department of International Business and Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, vol. 20(65), pages 2-34, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:86:y:2010:i:s1:p:61-68. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esausea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.