Fiscal Policy, Past and Present

This paper begins by reviewing the current U.S. fiscal situation and the causes of its recent deterioration. As a guide to possible policy actions, it estimates past responses of revenue and expenditure both at the federal and at the state and local level. Federal fiscal policy is found to be responsive to both economic and fiscal conditions, and this responsiveness may have grown over time. For states, economic conditions are less important, but responses to budget gaps are swifter. Given current conditions, equations for federal revenue and expenditure predict tax cuts and expenditure increases, but of a considerably smaller magnitude than President Bush initially proposed. However, current circumstances are difficult to evaluate because of the enormous implicit entitlements liabilities, which are much more significant today than in the past. This difficulty is but one of the problems facing policy prediction and evaluation.