Macroeconomic Policies Flashcards

1
Q

fiscal policy

A

government’s manipulation of taxes and expenditures with the goal of increasing or decreasing the level of aggregate demand in an economy

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2
Q

automatic fiscal policy: economic growth

A

economies at full employment level of output with low unemployment and high income will experience automatic decrease in government expenditure (benefits, etc.)

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3
Q

automatic fiscal policy: recession

A

during recessions and periods of high unemployment government expenditure automatically increases (benefits, etc.)

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4
Q

graphs of automatic fiscal policy for growth and recession

A
  • ST = stabilised
  • would normally move from AD1 to AD2 but doesn’t because of fiscal policy
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5
Q

graph showing built in automatic stabilisers

A
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7
Q

closing a recessionary gap

A

tax cut and spending package

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8
Q

closing an inflationary gap

A

increase taxes or decrease government spending

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10
Q

discretionary fiscal policy

A

change in taxes and spending undertaken by government with the explicit aim of either stimulating or contracting the overall level of demand in the economy to promote economic stability and full employment

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13
Q

advantages of fiscal policy

A

prevents a ‘double dip’ recession

  • if prices/wages are sticky downwards, once in deep recession do not naturally rise, worsening recession

quick fix for rampant inflation

  • contractionary policy quick and easy to implement, causes prices to fall

increases aggregate demand

  • reduces size of deflationary gap
  • reduces cyclical unemployment
  • pulls economies out of liquidity trap
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14
Q

disadvantages of fiscal policy

A

time lag

  • administrative time lag: time to plan and administer tax change
  • recognition time lag: time taken to recognise that policies need to change
  • impact time lag: time between implementation and outcome

politics

  • deflationary fiscal policy can be unfavorable politically, may be avoided before re-election

expense

  • inflationary fiscal policy very expensive because need to invest in huge amounts of capital

crowding out

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15
Q

demand-side policies

A
  • monetary policy
  • fiscal policy
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16
Q

supply-side policies: encourage competition

A

privitisation

  • can bring sucess if government monopoly ineffective and competition encourages
  • ineffective if becomes market monopoly
  • ineffective if government natural monopoly
  • government monopoly may provide positive externalities which could be lost in privitisation

anti-monopoly legislation

  • breaking up natural monopoly = bad
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17
Q

supply-side policies: labor market policies

A

labor markets

  • legislation against trade unions
  • education and training
  • income tax rates (decrease in tax incentive for people to work harder)
  • unemployment benefits (makes opportunity cost of not working too high)

deregulation

  • reduction in health&safety laws reduces costs and increases output
  • unsafe working conditions = negative outcome
  • reduction in environmental laws reduces costs
  • increased environmental degradation and other negative externalities

incentive related policies

  • reduce MTR on high earners does nto have predictable outcome
  • may increase or decrease tax revenue based on cultural factors (how people respond to changes)
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18
Q

money market graph

A
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20
Q

money demand

A

desire to hold money as an asset and demand for money as a means to purchase goods and services

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21
Q

why is money supply curve perfectly inelastic?

A
  • central bank has authority to set the level of money supply
  • operates independently of interest rate
22
Q

contractionary monetary policy

A

actions by central bank to decrease money supply and increase interest rates

23
Q

expansionary monetary policy

A

actions by central bank to increase money supply and decrease interest rates

24
Q

reserve asset ratio

A

percentage of liabilities kept to cover potential withdrawals

25
Q

credit multiplier

A
  • as lent money circles through economy back to bank a specific percentage kept back and surplus lent out again
  • creates new money in circulation
26
Q

how to implement expansionary monetary policy?

A
  • decrease RAR to increase MM
  • government buys back bonds to increase money in circulation in open market operations
  • central bank lending interest rates decreased
27
Q

expansionary monetary policy graphs

A
28
Q

how to implement contractionary monetary policy?

A
  • increase RAR to decrease MM
  • government sells bonds to decrease money in circulation in open market operations
  • central bank lending interest rates increased
30
Q

advantages of monetary policy

A
  • no political constraints (central bank tends to be semi-autonomous from government)
  • no crowding out (encourages investment by lowering interest rates, not government borrowing)
  • easier to track money supply than government expenditure
  • can be put into effect quickly
31
Q

disadvantages of monetary policy

A
  • time lag (takes a while before interest rates trickle down to general population)
  • does not help liquidity trap: income elasticity of demand for investment more inelastic during recession: businesses not responding to change in interest rates
  • contractionary MP ineffective against cost-push inflation: exacerbate recessionary pressure
32
Q

supply side policies: labor market reforms

A
  • reduction of minimum wage reduces labor costs and makes workers more responsive to labor market which increases output
  • increases inequality
  • reducing transfer payments and union power leads to more flexible labor market but increased inequality
33
Q

supply side policies: government intervention

A

investment in human capital

  • increase education and healthcare provision
  • increases long run economic growth

investment in technology

  • private sector research and development limited by profit motive
  • government able to do this R&D without requiring profit

investment in infrastructure

  • works best in areas where cost is too great for private sector but where therea are significant positive externalities
  • large scale projects subject to political pressures - results in inappropriate ‘prestige’ projects at expense of useful projects