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Macroeconomic Effects of Government Spending: The Great Recession was (Really) Different

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  • MATHIAS KLEIN
  • LUDGER LINNEMANN

Abstract

We estimate the effect of government spending shocks on the U.S. economy with a time‐varying parameter vector autoregression. The recent Great Recession period appears to be characterized by uniquely large impulse responses of output to fiscal shocks. Moreover, the particularity of this period is underlined by highly unusual responses of several other variables. The pattern of fiscal shock responses neither completely fits the predictions of the New Keynesian model of an economy subject to the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates, nor does it suggest regular variation of fiscal policy effects depending on the state of the business cycle. Rather, the Great Recession period seems special in that government spending shocks had a strongly negative effect on the spread between corporate and government bond yields and a strongly positive effect on consumer confidence and private consumption spending.

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  • Mathias Klein & Ludger Linnemann, 2019. "Macroeconomic Effects of Government Spending: The Great Recession was (Really) Different," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(5), pages 1237-1264, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jmoncb:v:51:y:2019:i:5:p:1237-1264
    DOI: 10.1111/jmcb.12558
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    2. Galí, Jordi, 2020. "The effects of a money-financed fiscal stimulus," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 1-19.
    3. Giovanni Angelini & Giovanni Caggiano & Efrem Castelnuovo & Luca Fanelli, 2023. "Are Fiscal Multipliers Estimated with Proxy‐SVARs Robust?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 85(1), pages 95-122, February.
    4. Pascal Goemans, 2022. "Historical evidence for larger government spending multipliers in uncertain times than in slumps," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1164-1185, July.
    5. Ansgar Belke & Pascal Goemans, 2021. "Uncertainty and nonlinear macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy in the US: a SEIVAR-based analysis," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 49(4), pages 623-646, May.
    6. 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).
    7. Charles Bahr & Lee Hui Shan & Alfred Lam, 2020. "The Macroeconomic Effects of Public Debt: An Empirical Analysis of Evidence from Canada," Journal of Accounting, Business and Finance Research, Scientific Publishing Institute, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9.

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