¶ … Fiscal Policies
There are many issues within the context of federal fiscal policy that are complicated and technical, which is why lay people likely don't fully understand those policies and practices and problems. Those issues are fully flushed out in this paper.
Question ONE (a): Explain the problem of time lags that occur in the enacting and applying fiscal policy. Nadia Macdonald explains in her book (Macroeconomics and Business: an Interactive Approach) that time lags occur because it takes -- in many cases -- a "long time for the government machinery to produce outcomes" (Macdonald, 1999, 141). The government machinery she is referring to is the legislative process (that is, a bill produced by the executive branch or by a member of Congress has to work though committees, through debates, before it is finally acted upon by vote), the "bureaucracy" and the "red tape" that is inevitably involved in new legislation. The time lag can be a year or longer, Macdonald writes.
The very fact that a fiscal policy -- enacted into law when the Congress passes the bill and it is signed into law by the president -- can take up to a year "or more" is a time lag that potentially has a "destabilizing effect rather than a stabilizing one" on the economy and the nation (Macdonald, 141). The author mentions three distinct types of time lags, "recognition lags," "implementation lags," and "response lags."
Recognition lags exist because it takes a certain amount of time for policymakers to actually discern / recognize a "boom" or a "slump" in the economy, Macdonald explains (141). The time it takes to collect data (many fiscal statistics are only available quarterly), and often those data are "only preliminary" so there is a degree of difficulty in fiscal policy managers' ability to interpret the data. Implementation lags result because of the time it takes for the Congress and the White House to agree on a fiscal policy; the bills have to be debated, altered, are re-written to satisfy concerns from all parties. The current standoff in Washington D.C. over the issue of raising the debt limit is a classic example of an "implementation...
Ergo, economic growth through the private sector is not possible without federal deficit. In his own words, "while it is commonly believed that continual budget deficits will bankrupt the nation, in reality, those budget deficits are the only way that our private sector can save and accumulate net financial wealth" (Wray, 2009). 3. The Reformation of Entitlement Programs The article selected to answer the question relative to the future strategies that
Given that the woman does already own her own property, this greatest capital for self-employment justifies the long-term prospect of self-employment. 3. Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami have for a number of years remained somewhat ahead of state and nationwide unemployment levels. But as the recession drags on into its 18th month, it is clear that Miami is no longer insulated from the patterns impacting the rest of the
Fiscal Policy in the Global Environment: Case Study on Ireland Economic Policy The objective of this work is to examine the key aims of fiscal policy and to determine what the appropriate fiscal policy stance is for the Irish economy at the present. Research questions in this study include those stated as follows: (1) What are the key aims of fiscal policy? (2) What is the appropriate fiscal policy stance for the Irish
At a general level, the fiscal policy decreased the individuals' purchasing powers, which subsequently translated into lower levels of consumption. In other words, people bought commodities at higher prices, but they lowered their purchase volumes. The government will probably end up with the same level of federal revenues, but their collection structure will suffer modifications. In other words, the same amount of taxes was once collected through lower taxes and
Inflation remains low because of the seemingly unchanging rate of unemployment and income. In addition, the low inflation rate is associated with the slow economic activity during the winter months because of adverse weather conditions (Liu, 2014). One of the major reasons for the minimal changes in U.S. interest rates as compared to five years ago is the slow recovery in the housing sector. The housing sector continues to
Fiscal and Monetary Issues in America Economics There are high tensions in the American economy today resulting from speculations whether the government will be able to hit the debt ceiling. Failure to hit the debt ceiling has serious economic effects to many sectors of the economy both in the United States and various countries of the world. Political disagreements regarding the budget delay decision-making process as the date ceiling draws closer
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