HomeWHICHWhich Of The Following Is Considered Expansionary Fiscal Policy

Which Of The Following Is Considered Expansionary Fiscal Policy

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Fiscal Policy

Fiscal policy is the use of government spending and tax policy to influence the path of the economy over time. Automatic stabilizers, which we learned about in the last section, are a passive type of fiscal policy, since once the system is set up, Congress need not take any further action. On the other hand, discretionary fiscal policy is an active fiscal policy that uses expansionary or contractionary measures to speed the economy up or slow the economy down.

Expansionary fiscal policy occurs when the Congress acts to cut tax rates or increase government spending, shifting the aggregate demand curve to the right. Contractionary fiscal policy occurs when Congress raises tax rates or cuts government spending, shifting aggregate demand to the left.

Figure 1 uses an aggregate demand/aggregate supply diagram to illustrate a healthy, growing economy. The original equilibrium occurs at E0, the intersection of aggregate demand curve AD0 and aggregate supply curve AS0, at an output level of 200 and a price level of 90.

One year later, aggregate supply has shifted to the right to AS1 in the process of long-term economic growth, and aggregate demand has also shifted to the right to AD1, keeping the economy operating at the new level of potential GDP. The new equilibrium (E1) is at an output level of 206 and a price level of 92. One more year later, aggregate supply has again shifted to the right, now to AS2, and aggregate demand shifts right as well to AD2. Now the equilibrium is E2, with an output level of 212 and a price level of 94. In short, the figure shows an economy that is growing steadily year to year, producing at its potential GDP each year, with only small inflationary increases in the price level.

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In the real world, however, aggregate demand and aggregate supply do not always move neatly together, especially over short periods of time. Aggregate demand may fail to grow as fast as aggregate supply, or it may even decline causing a recession. This could be caused by a number of possible reasons: households become hesitant about consuming; firms decide against investing as much; or perhaps the demand from other countries for exports diminishes. For example, investment by private firms in physical capital in the U.S. economy boomed during the late 1990s, rising from 14.1% of GDP in 1993 to 17.2% in 2000, before falling back to 15.2% by 2002. Conversely, increases in aggregate demand could run ahead of increases in aggregate supply, causing inflationary increases in the price level. Business cycles of recession and boom are the consequence of shifts in aggregate supply and aggregate demand. As these occur, the government may choose to use fiscal policy to address the difference.

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