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Boosting Confidence: Is there a Role for Fiscal Policy?

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Abstract

This paper investigates the widely held view that expansionary fiscal policy can boost consumer and business confidence, which will stimulate private spending and sustain economic activity. We find evidence in favor of this conjecture, i.e., cuts in direct taxes generate a positive effect on consumer and business confidence, while the same applies in cases of higher non-wage government consumption. However, higher government wage bills and government investment reduce confidence, with the effect being more pronounced when the debt to GDP ratio is high, possibly because they entail a permanent increase in the size of the public sector, which would have to be financed by higher future taxes.

Suggested Citation

  • Panagiotis Konstantinou & Athanasios Tagkalakis, 2011. "Boosting Confidence: Is there a Role for Fiscal Policy?," Discussion Paper Series 2011_03, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Mar 2011.
    • Handle: RePEc:mcd:mcddps:2011_03
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    Cited by:

    1. Agnello, Luca & Castro, Vítor & Sousa, Ricardo M., 2012. "How does fiscal policy react to wealth composition and asset prices?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 874-890.
    2. repec:ebl:ecbull:eb-17-00725 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Roel Beetsma & Jacopo Cimadomo & Oana Furtuna & Massimo Giuliodori1, 2015. "The confidence effects of fiscal consolidations," Economic Policy, CEPR;CES;MSH, vol. 30(83), pages 439-489.
    4. Maria Th. Kasselaki & Athanasios O. Tagkalakis, 2016. "Fiscal policy and private investment in Greece," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 147, pages 53-106.
    5. Athanasios Tagkalakis, 2014. "Discretionary fiscal policy and economic activity in Greece," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 41(4), pages 687-712, November.
    6. Ojeda-Joya, Jair N. & Parra-Polanía, Julián A. & Vargas, Carmiña O., 2016. "Fiscal rules as a response to commodity shocks: A welfare analysis of the Colombian scenario," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 859-866.
    7. Beetsma, Roel & Furtuna, Oana & Giuliodori, Massimo, 2017. "Revenue- versus spending-based consolidation plans: the role of follow-up," CEPR Discussion Papers 12133, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Montes, Gabriel Caldas & Almeida, André Filipe Guedes, 2016. "Compromisso fiscal, expectativas empresariais e produção industrial: o caso brasileiro," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, FGV/EPGE - Escola Brasileira de Economia e Finanças, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil), vol. 70(2), July.
    9. Panayiotis P. Athanasoglou & Ioannis Daniilidis, 2011. "Procyclicality in the banking industry: causes, consequences and response," Working Papers 139, Bank of Greece.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal Policy; Consumer Confidence; Business Confidence; Fiscal Stimulus of Confidence.;

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm

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