Monday, December 8, 2008

Woodward & Hall: Options for Stimulating the Economy

Economists Susan Woodward and Robert Hall have identified five general stimulus-inducing strategies that should be considered in closing a reasonable fraction of the GDP gap that is predicuted to occur in 2009 (about $900 billion below normal growth path). The strategies include:
  • Further expansion by the Fed
  • Income tax cuts with rebates, as earlier this year
  • Tax cuts that reduce the prices of consumer goods temporarily
  • Tax cuts that reduce the cost of labor to businesses
  • Increase in purchases of goods and services by state and local governments

Two of the five I noted would be very beneficial in a previous post.

2 comments:

E Burns said...

Do you think that one strategy should be picked by the new administration or a combination of several strategies?

R McGarry said...

Looking at what the economy is up against, I'd say as many of these need to be executed as possible, although I think it is unlikely we'll see a tax cut on consumer goods (that's already comming in the form of deflation and lower transportation/energy costs).