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Is Fiscal Policy More Effective During Recessions?

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  • Mario Alloza

Abstract

This article estimates the impact of government spending shocks on economic activity during periods of boom and recession. I estimate these effects using an eclectic approach that employs (i) different strategies to identify exogenous variation in government spending, (ii) different methods to compute dynamic responses, and (iii) different measures of the state of business cycles. I find that government spending shocks have larger impacts on output during expansions than during recessions. Importantly, I explore the reasons why my results differ from other work in the literature and highlight the empirical implications of the information used to define periods of recession.

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  • Mario Alloza, 2022. "Is Fiscal Policy More Effective During Recessions?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1271-1292, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:iecrev:v:63:y:2022:i:3:p:1271-1292
    DOI: 10.1111/iere.12571
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    Cited by:

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    2. Vitor Castro & Boris Fisera, 2022. "Determinants of the Duration of Economic Recoveries: The Role of ´Too Much Finance´," Working Papers IES 2022/33, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Dec 2022.
    3. Bertille Antoine & Otilia Boldea & Niccolo Zaccaria, 2024. "Efficient two-sample instrumental variable estimators with change points and near-weak identification," Papers 2406.17056, arXiv.org.
    4. Giovanna Ciaffi & Matteo Deleidi & Michele Capriati, 2024. "Government spending, multipliers, and public debt sustainability: an empirical assessment for OECD countries," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 41(2), pages 521-542, July.
    5. Goemans, Pascal, 2023. "The impact of public consumption and investment in the euro area during periods of high and normal uncertainty," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    6. Giovanna Ciaffi & Matteo Deleidi & Mariana Mazzucato, 2024. "Measuring the macroeconomic responses to public investment in innovation: evidence from OECD countries," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 33(2), pages 363-382.
    7. Haug, Alfred A. & Sznajderska, Anna, 2024. "Government spending multipliers: Is there a difference between government consumption and investment purchases?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Linderoth, Gabriella & Meuller, Malte, 2024. "Inflation-Dependent Exchange Rate Pass-Through in Sweden: Insights from a Logistic Smooth Transition VAR Model," Working Paper Series 439, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).

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