The Cost of Business Cycles and the Benefits of Stabilization: A Survey / Gadi Barlevy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barlevy, Gadi.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w10926.

NBER working paper series no. w10926

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

The Cost of Business Cycles and the Benefits of Stabilization

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2004.

Summary:

This article reviews the literature on the cost of U.S. post-War business cycle fluctuations. I argue that recent work has established this cost is considerably larger than initial work found. However, despite the large cost of macroeconomic volatility, it is not obvious that policymakers should have pursued a more aggressive stabilization policy than they did. Still, the fact that volatility is so costly suggests stable growth is a desirable goal that ought to be maintained to the extent possible, just as policymakers are currently required to do under the Balanced Growth and Full Employment Act of 1978. This survey was prepared for the Economic Perspectives, a publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Notes:

Print version record

November 2004.