This paper analyzes how fiscal and monetary policy typically respond during downturns in G7 countries. It evaluates whether discretionary fiscal responses to downturns are timely and temporary, and compares the response of fiscal policy to that of monetary policy. The results suggest that while responding more weakly and less quickly than monetary policy, discretionary fiscal policy is more timely than conventional wisdom would suggest, particularly in “Anglo-Saxon†countries, but the response differs substantially across fiscal instruments. Both fiscal and monetary policy are found to be subject to an easing bias, with more easing during downturns than tightening during upturns; and liable to easing in response to erroneously perceived downturns, many of which are subsequently revised to expansions.
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Paper provided by International Monetary Fund in its series IMF Working Papers with number
09/50.
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Christina D. Romer & David H. Romer, 1994.
"What Ends Recessions?,"
NBER Working Papers
4765, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
Christina D. Romer & David H. Romer, 1994.
"What Ends Recessions?,"
NBER Chapters,
in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1994, Volume 9, pages 13-80
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)