IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-01785867.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Why Are Keynesian Multipliers Larger in Hard Times? A Palley-Aftalion-Pasinetti Explanation

Author

Listed:
  • Sébastien Charles

    (LED - Laboratoire d'Economie Dionysien - UP8 - Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis)

  • Thomas Dallery

    (CLERSÉ - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019 - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Jonathan Marie

    (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

We use the AMECO database to confirm that textbook multipliers are nearly always greater than one and that they increase during recessions. Propensity to import falls in recessions through the combined effects of the amplified fall in investment (Aftalion) and the high import content of investment (Palley). A change in saving behavior (Pasinetti) may also raise the multiplier. These findings strongly support the need for countercyclical fiscal policies during recessions.

Suggested Citation

  • Sébastien Charles & Thomas Dallery & Jonathan Marie, 2018. "Why Are Keynesian Multipliers Larger in Hard Times? A Palley-Aftalion-Pasinetti Explanation," Post-Print hal-01785867, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01785867
    DOI: 10.1177/0486613417722527
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01785867
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-01785867/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0486613417722527?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J. S. L. McCombie, 1993. "Economic Growth, Trade Interlinkages, and the Balance-of-Payments Constraint," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 471-505, July.
    2. Alessandra Faggian & Bianca Biagi, 2003. "Measuring Regional Multipliers: a Comparison between two Different Methodologies for the case of the italian Regions," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2003(1).
    3. Thorstein Veblen, 1899. "Mr. Cummings's Strictures on "The Theory of the Leisure Class"," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 106-106.
    4. Anthony P. Thirlwall, 2011. "The Balance of Payments Constraint as an Explanation of International Growth Rate Differences," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 64(259), pages 429-438.
    5. Francesco Giavazzi & Marco Pagano, 1990. "Can Severe Fiscal Contractions Be Expansionary? Tales of Two Small European Countries," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1990, Volume 5, pages 75-122, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Olivier J. Blanchard & Daniel Leigh, 2013. "Growth Forecast Errors and Fiscal Multipliers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 117-120, May.
    7. Alberto Alesina & Roberto Perotti, 1995. "Fiscal Expansions and Fiscal Adjustments in OECD Countries," NBER Working Papers 5214, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2010. "Growth in a Time of Debt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 573-578, May.
    9. Luigi L. Pasinetti, 1962. "Rate of Profit and Income Distribution in Relation to the Rate of Economic Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 29(4), pages 267-279.
    10. John B. Taylor, 2000. "Teaching Modern Macroeconomics at the Principles Level," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 90-94, May.
    11. Cynamon Barry Z. & Fazzari Steven M., 2008. "Household Debt in the Consumer Age: Source of Growth--Risk of Collapse," Capitalism and Society, De Gruyter, vol. 3(2), pages 1-32, October.
    12. Thomas I. Palley, 2009. "Imports and the income-expenditure model: implications for fiscal policy and recession fighting," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 311-322, December.
    13. Paul Davidson, 2010. "Making dollars and sense of the U.S. government debt," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 661-666, July.
    14. Michel Husson, 2015. "Unemployment, working time and financialisation: the French case," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 39(3), pages 887-905.
    15. Veblen, Thorstein, 1899. "The Theory of the Leisure Class," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number veblen1899.
    16. Toralf Pusch, 2012. "Fiscal spending multiplier calculations based on input-output tables – an application to EU member states," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 9(1), pages 129-144.
    17. Krugman, Paul, 2000. "How Complicated Does the Model Have to Be?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 16(4), pages 33-42, Winter.
    18. Florencia Médici & Demian Tupac Panigo, 2015. "Balance-of-payment-constrained growth in unbalanced productive structures: disregarded terms of trade negative effects," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2), pages 192-217, October.
    19. Sébastien Charles & Thomas Dallery & Jonathan Marie, 2015. "Why the Keynesian Multiplier Increases During Hard Times: A Theoretical Explanation Based on Rentiers' Saving Behaviour," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 451-473, July.
    20. J. Maurice Clark, 1917. "Business Acceleration and the Law of Demand: A Technical Factor in Economic Cycles," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(3), pages 217-217.
    21. Kazimierz Laski & Jerzy Osiatynski & Jolanta Zieba, 2010. "The Government Expenditure Multiplier and its Estimates for Poland in 2006-2009," wiiw Working Papers 63, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    22. Simon Kuznets & Lillian Epstein & Elizabeth Jenks, 1946. "National Product since 1869," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kuzn46-1.
    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. Charles, Sébastien, 2019. "Le multiplicateur budgétaire endogène au cycle dans un modèle macroéconomique post-keynésien [The state-dependent fiscal Multiplier in a Post-Keynesian Macroeconomic Model]," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 26.
    2. Sébastien Charles & Thomas Dallery & Jonathan Marie, 2015. "Why the Keynesian Multiplier Increases During Hard Times: A Theoretical Explanation Based on Rentiers' Saving Behaviour," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 451-473, July.
    3. Sébastien Charles & Thomas Dallery & Jonathan Marie, 2019. "Has French budgetary policy since the 1970s been truly Keynesian?," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 7(1), pages 75-93, January.
    4. Sébastien Charles & Thomas Dallery & Jonathan Marie, 2021. "Covid-19 and interweaving of crises: Restoring Keynesianism in order to rebuild macroeconomic policy [Covid-19 et imbrication des crises : réhabiliter le keynésianisme pour refonder la politique ma," Post-Print hal-03148074, HAL.

    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. Charles, Sébastien, 2019. "Le multiplicateur budgétaire endogène au cycle dans un modèle macroéconomique post-keynésien [The state-dependent fiscal Multiplier in a Post-Keynesian Macroeconomic Model]," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 26.
    2. Walter Paternesi Meloni, 2017. "Austerity & Competitiveness in the Eurozone: a misleading linkage," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0223, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    3. Alessandro Caiani & Ermanno Catullo & Mauro Gallegati, 2018. "The effects of fiscal targets in a monetary union: a multi-country agent-based stock flow consistent model," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(6), pages 1123-1154.
    4. Paternesi Meloni, Walter, 2016. "Austerity and competitiveness in the Eurozone: a misleading linkage," MPRA Paper 75962, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Branimir Jovanovic, 2017. "Growth forecast errors and government investment and consumption multipliers," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 83-107, January.
    6. Thierry Betti & Thomas Coudert, 2022. "How harmful are cuts in public employment and wage in times of high unemployment?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 247-277, January.
    7. Sébastien Charles & Thomas Dallery & Jonathan Marie, 2015. "Why the Keynesian Multiplier Increases During Hard Times: A Theoretical Explanation Based on Rentiers' Saving Behaviour," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 451-473, July.
    8. Athanasios Tagkalakis, 2014. "Discretionary fiscal policy and economic activity in Greece," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 41(4), pages 687-712, November.
    9. C. Petraglia & F. Purificato, 2013. "Single currency and supranational constraints to fiscal policies in the Eurozone during the crisis," Rivista economica del Mezzogiorno, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 4, pages 1065-1094.
    10. Fontana, Olimpia & Sau, Lino, 2023. "Expansionary Austerity in Europe: Finally an Oxymoron?," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202317, University of Turin.
    11. Steininger, Lea & Hesse, Casimir, 2024. "Buying into new ideas: The ECB’s evolving justification of unlimited liquidity," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 357, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    12. Eric Kemp‐Benedict, 2020. "Convergence of actual, warranted, and natural growth rates in a Kaleckian–Harrodian‐classical model," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(4), pages 851-881, November.
    13. Sébastien Charles & Thomas Dallery & Jonathan Marie, 2015. "Le multiplicateur keynésien en récession : pourquoi une relance est-elle davantage nécessaire aujourd'hui en zone euro ?," CEPN Policy Brief, Centre d'Economie de l'Université de Paris Nord, vol. 7, pages 1-4.
    14. Carranza-Ugarte, Luis & Díaz-Saavedra, Julián & Galdon-Sanchez, Jose Enrique, 2023. "Rethinking fiscal rules," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 833-857.
      • Luis Carranza Ugarte & Julian Diaz Saavedra & Jose Enrique Galdon-Sanchez, 2021. "Rethinking fiscal rules," ThE Papers 21/14, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
    15. Daniel Detzer, 2016. "Financialisation, Debt and Inequality – scenarios based on a stock flow consistent model," Working papers wpaper151, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    16. Falilou Fall & Debra Bloch & Jean-Marc Fournier & Peter Hoeller, 2015. "Prudent debt targets and fiscal frameworks," OECD Economic Policy Papers 15, OECD Publishing.
    17. Pasquale Foresti & Ugo Marani, 2014. "Expansionary Fiscal Consolidations: Theoretical Underpinnings and their Implications for the Eurozone," Contributions to Political Economy, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(1), pages 19-33.
    18. Lea Steininger & Casimir Hesse, 2024. "Buying into new ideas: The ECB’s evolving justification of unlimited liquidity," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp357, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    19. Alberto Botta, 2020. "The short- and long-run inconsistency of the expansionary austerity theory: a post-Keynesian/evolutionist critique," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 143-177, January.
    20. Szilárd Benk & Zoltán M. Jakab, 2012. "Non-Keynesian Effects of Fiscal Consolidation: An Analysis with an Estimated DSGE Model for the Hungarian Economy," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 945, OECD Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal multipliers; recession; globalization; import content; investment accelerator;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • F62 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Macroeconomic Impacts

    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:hal:journl:hal-01785867. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.