Stephanie Bell (The Jerome Levy Economics Institute)
Abstract
This paper investigates the commonly held belief that government spending is normally financed through a combination of taxes and bond sales. The argument is a technical one and requires a detailed analysis of reserve accounting at the central bank. After carefully considering the complexities of reserve accounting, it is argued that the proceeds from taxation and bond sales are technically incapable of financing government spending and that modern governments actually finance all of their spending through the direct creation of high-powered money. The analysis carries significant implications for fiscal as well as monetary policy.
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Macroeconomics with number
9808008.
Length: 27 pages Date of creation: 18 Aug 1998 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpma:9808008
Note: Type of Document - Acrobat PDF; prepared on IBM PC; to print on PostScript; pages: 27; figures: included Contact details of provider: Web page: http://129.3.20.41
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