Search Results
                                                                                    Working Paper
                                                                                
                                            Fiscal Policy and Aggregate Demand in the U.S. Before, During and Following the Great Recession
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                                                    
                                                                                                    We examine the effect of federal and subnational fiscal policy on aggregate demand in the U.S. by introducing the fiscal effect (FE) measure. FE can be decomposed into three components. Discretionary FE quantifies the effect of discretionary or legislated policy changes on aggregate demand. Cyclical FE captures the effect of the automatic stabilizers--changes in government taxes and spending arising from the business cycle. Residual FE measures the effect of all changes in government revenues and outlays which cannot be categorized as either discretionary or cyclical; for example, it captures ...