How Big (Small?) are Fiscal Multipliers? / Ethan Ilzetzki, Enrique G. Mendoza, Carlos A. Végh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ilzetzki, Ethan.

Contributor:

Mendoza, Enrique G.

Végh, Carlos A.

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w16479.

NBER working paper series no. w16479

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

How Big

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2010.

Summary:

We contribute to the debate on the macroeconomic effects of fiscal stimuli by showing that the impact of government expenditure shocks depends crucially on key country characteristics, such as the level of development, exchange rate regime, openness to trade, and public indebtedness. Based on a novel quarterly dataset of government expenditure in 44 countries, we find that (i) the output effect of an increase in government consumption is larger in industrial than in developing countries, (ii) the fiscal multiplier is relatively large in economies operating under predetermined exchange rates but is zero in economies operating under flexible exchange rates; (iii) fiscal multipliers in open economies are smaller than in closed economies; (iv) fiscal multipliers in high-debt countries are negative.

Notes:

Print version record

October 2010.