Publications

199 publications found, searching for 'Fiscal Policy '

• Working Paper No. 1082 May 12, 2025

  Growth vs. Discipline: Italy’s Fiscal Dilemmas in a Stock-Flow Consistent Model

  Francesco Zezza, and Gennaro Zezza
  Abstract

  This paper investigates the implications of the European Union’s revised fiscal governance framework for Italy, a country facing the dual challenge of high public debt and persistent economic stagnation. Using a Stock-Flow Consistent (SFC) macroeconometric model of the Italian economy (MITA), we assess the medium-term macroeconomic implications of the government Medium-term Fiscal-Structural Plan, and whether […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1082 PDF (732.73 KB)
• One-Pager No. 73 May 05, 2025

  The Incoming Recession: Are Imports the Real Culprit?

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Giuliano Toshiro Yajima, and Gennaro Zezza
  Abstract

  The preliminary estimates for real GDP growth in the first quarter of 2025 show an annualized contraction rate of 0.28 percent, along with an extraordinary increase in imports of 41.3 percent. Most commentators rushed to indicate that the contraction was due to the rise in imports, as, for instance, with the recent Reuters headline stating […]

  Download One-Pager No. 73 PDF (285.37 KB)
• Working Paper No. 1080 April 04, 2025

  Protecting Social Security: The Case Against Extending the Full Retirement Age

  Edward Lane
  Abstract

  The Social Security “full retirement age” (FRA) is the age at which retirement income benefits are available without reduction for early commencement. Presently, that age is 67 for those born in 1960 or later. This paper is about the unfair and unnecessary threat to reduce Social Security retirement income benefits (Romig 2023) by extending the […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1080 PDF (402.09 KB)
• Working Paper No. 1077 February 11, 2025

  A Critical Examination of the “China Collapse” Narrative

  Yan Liang
  Abstract

  Western media and academia have heralded the China collapse narrative. This paper provides a critical and balanced examination of the four challenges facing the Chinese economy—namely, deflation, debt, demographics, and de-coupling/de-risking. It argues that while deflationary pressure is present, consumer demand has been improving as the property market stabilized and policies to bolster domestic demand […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1077 PDF (366.56 KB)
• Working Paper No. 1075 January 23, 2025

  The High Cost of the Strong Peso and Its Temporary Nature: The Case of Mexico

  Arturo Huerta G.
  Abstract

  The article analyzes why exchange rate stability has been prioritized in Mexico and why the national currency has appreciated; which policies and factors have made this possible, the costs and consequences of the strong peso, and its sustainability and temporality are also examined. Mexico’s economy does not have the endogenous conditions necessary to maintain such […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1075 PDF (344.12 KB)
• Working Paper No. 1069 December 10, 2024

  Tax Credits Are Industrial Policy

  Chirag Lala
  Abstract

  Originally issued as EDI Working Paper No. 19, March 2024 The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is criticized for “derisking” private investment by increasing the gains to private firms. The derisking critique argues that the IRA insufficiently disciplines private firms; it does not utilize legal or financial penalties which would force firms to undertake green investment […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1069 PDF (1.05 MB)
• Working Paper No. 1068 December 10, 2024

  Monetary Power and Vulnerability to Sovereign Debt Crises

  Karina Lima
  Abstract

  Originally issued as EDI Working Paper No. 17, March 2024 This paper challenges the prevailing view in the sovereign debt literature by arguing that sovereign debt markets, in many respects, behave similarly to other credit markets. These markets are hierarchical rather than flat, inherently hybrid in nature, blending elements of public order and private markets, […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1068 PDF (502.79 KB)
• Working Paper No. 1065 December 06, 2024

  Resource Constraints and Economic Policy

  Yeva Nersisyan
  Abstract

  Originally issued as EDI Working Paper No. 09, 2023 This paper explains the MMT approach for evaluating the affordability of spending programs, contrasting it with the mainstream approach. Using the examples of the Green New Deal, Medicare-for-All, and Build Back Better, it argues that rethinking spending and taxes as claims on, and releases of resources, […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1065 PDF (416.51 KB)
• Working Paper No. 1064 December 06, 2024

  Seismic Shifts in Economic Theory and Policy from the Bernanke Doctrine to Modern Money Theory

  Pavlina R. Tcherneva, and Éric Tymoigne
  Abstract

  Originally issued as EDI Working Paper No. 08, 2022  This paper evaluates the relationship between monetary and fiscal policy and the relative effectiveness of macroeconomic stabilization through the lens of Modern Money Theory (MMT). We articulate previously-neglected aspects of monetary sovereignty to offer a new interpretation of the Bernanke Doctrine that emerged in the wake of […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1064 PDF (947.82 KB)
• Working Paper No. 1063 December 03, 2024

  Fiscal and Monetary Policy in an SFC Model of the Italian Economy

  Francesco Zezza
  Abstract

  Following the Great Financial Crisis of 2008–9, there has been a shift in mainstream economic policy modeling toward “realism,” with dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models partly diverging from the representative agent framework, and large-scale, New-Keynesian structural models addressing real-financial interactions in greater detail. Still, the need for tractability of the former, and the lack […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1063 PDF (1.71 MB)
• Working Paper No. 1061 November 26, 2024

  Modern Money Theory on Fiscal and Monetary Policies

  Éric Tymoigne
  Abstract

  Originally issued as EDI Working Paper No. 04, 2022 Drumetz and Pfister make several claims about the inadequacy and fallacies of Modern Money Theory (MMT) and conclude that MMT is nothing more than a political manifesto; there are no theoretical and empirical foundations behind it. This paper addresses this last point by focusing on the […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1061 PDF (1.34 MB)
• Working Paper No. 1059 November 26, 2024

  Three Lessons from Government Spending and the Post-Pandemic Recovery

  Pavlina R. Tcherneva
  Abstract

  Originally issued as EDI Working Paper No. 01, 2021 The central lesson of the COVID-19 fiscal response is that money is not scarce. Without delay, governments around the world appropriated budgets that dwarfed any other postwar crisis policy. In 2020, Japan passed a stimulus package equal to 54.8 percent of GDP, while in the U.S., […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1059 PDF (664.26 KB)
• Policy Notes November 07, 2024

  Trump Wins While Americans Vote for Progressive Policies

  Pavlina R. Tcherneva
  Abstract

  On November 5, 2024, American voters sent Donald Trump back to the White House. In 2020, he lost his bid for reelection to Joe Biden, after winning in 2016 against Hillary Clinton (but only thanks to the electoral college). This time, however, Trump won the popular vote. All the new energy that surrounded the Harris-Walz campaign […]

  Download Policy Note 2024/3 PDF (182.86 KB)
• Policy Notes No. 1 October 11, 2024

  The Boy Who Cried Wolf About Government Debt

  Yeva Nersisyan, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  In a New York Times editorial, David Leonhardt recounts Aesop’s apocryphal story about the boy and the wolf, warning that while deficit hawks have so far been wrong, the growing government debt will eventually bite. He reports the economic plans of both presidential candidates would add to the debt that will soon exceed GDP and grow to 130 percent of annual output under a President Harris, or 140 percent with a Trump presidency.

  The story of the boy and the wolf was a fable, although it was within the realm of possibility. The fable of the debt wolf is not. While there are real world wolves—Leonhardt mentions climate catastrophe and autocratic leaders, and the authors would add rising inequality and the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of billionaires—authors Yeva Nersisyan and L. Randall Wray assert, federal debt is not one of them.

  Download Policy Note 2024/1 PDF (368.08 KB)
• Working Paper No. 1056 October 07, 2024

  Federal Tax Transfers and Demographic Transition: Balancing Equity and Efficiency

  Lekha S. Chakraborty, and Yadawendra Singh
  Abstract

  Against the backdrop of demographic transition in India, the study highlights the necessity of integrating the elderly population as a critical factor in formula-based intergovernmental fiscal transfers. The demographic transition, characterized by an increasing elderly population, imposes unique fiscal challenges on states, necessitating a revision of transfer formulas to ensure equitable and efficient resource distribution. […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1056 PDF (410.83 KB)
• Working Paper No. 1055 September 18, 2024

  The Relation Between Budget Deficits and Growth: Complicated but Clear

  L. Randall Wray, and Eric Lin
  Abstract

  This paper looks at the relationship between government budget deficits and the growth rate of GDP. While orthodox economic theory offers several reasons to believe that growing deficits might be associated with slower growth, and would ultimately be unsustainable, Keynesians assert that deficits could stimulate growth—at least in the short run—implying the relation between deficits […]

  Download PDF (4.23 MB)
• Working Paper No. 1053 June 07, 2024

  Foreign Deficit and Economic Policy: The Case of Mexico

  Arturo Huerta G.
  Abstract

  The article analyzes Mexico under globalization, particularly on the free mobility of capital. It argues that globalization has detrimentally impacted the productive and external sectors, causing the economy to become excessively reliant on volatile capital inflows from abroad. The Mexican government—instead of undoing the structural problems that lead to external deficits—implements policies that resolve the […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1053 PDF (3.66 MB)
• Working Paper No. 1052 June 05, 2024

  Exchange-Rate Stability Causes Deterioration of the Productive Sphere and Destabilizes Developing Economies

  Arturo Huerta G.
  Abstract

  For Matías Vernengo and Esteban Pérez Caldentey (2020), the MMT literature overemphasizes the choice of the exchange rate regime and the relevance of a flexible exchange rate regime, as well as the ultimate effect of that choice upon the policy space. In addition, they argue that the role of capital flows is underexplored, and that […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1052 PDF (346.76 KB)
• Strategic Analysis June 04, 2024

  U.S. Economic Outlook: Prospects for 2024 and Beyond

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Giuliano Toshiro Yajima, and Gennaro Zezza
  Abstract

  In this report, Institute President Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Research Scholar Giuliano T. Yajima, and Senior Scholar Gennaro Zezza discuss the rapid recovery of the US economy in the post-pandemic period. They find that robust consumption and investment and a relaxation of fiscal policy were the key drivers of accelerated GDP growth—however, the signs that the […]

  Download Strategic Analysis, June 2024 PDF (981.17 KB)
• Working Paper No. 1042 February 13, 2024

  Saving Social Security

  Edward Lane
  Abstract

  For more than 25 years, the Social Security Trust Fund was projected to run out of money in 2033 (give or take a few years), potentially causing benefits to be severely reduced in the absence of corrective legislative action. Today (February 2024), projections are made by the Social Security Administration that indicate that future benefits […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1042 PDF (2.11 MB)
• Working Paper No. 1040 February 02, 2024

  COP28 and Environmental Federalism: Empirical Evidence from an Emerging Economy, India

  Lekha S. Chakraborty, Amandeep Kaur, Ranjan Kumar Mohanty, Divy Rangan, and Sanjana Das
  Abstract

  Against the backdrop of COP28, this paper investigates the impact of intergovernmental fiscal transfers (IGFT) on climate change commitments in India. Within the analytical framework of environmental federalism, we tested the evidence for the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) using a panel model covering 27 Indian states from 2003 to 2020. The results suggest a positive […]

• Working Paper No. 1035 January 04, 2024

  The Swedish Monetary System from a Balance Sheet Perspective

  Dirk Ehnts, and Jussi Ora
  Abstract

  In this paper, we discuss the balance sheet mechanics of the Swedish government. We examine spending, government bond purchases, and tax payments. As long as the Swedish central bank, which is created through Swedish laws, supports the Swedish central government, it cannot run out of money. The Swedish government therefore plays a large role in […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1035 PDF (561.92 KB)
• Working Paper No. 1032 October 16, 2023

  Applying OECD Policy Evaluation Criteria to Child Protection Schemes in India

  Lekha S. Chakraborty, Amandeep Kaur, Jitesh Yadav, and Balamuraly B
  Abstract

  The policy evaluation is a crucial component in analyzing the efficacy of public spending in translating the money spent into desired outcomes. Using OECD evaluation criteria, we analyzed the child protection schemes of Odisha to understand whether legal commitments on child protection are translated into fiscal commitments. The intergovernmental fiscal transfers and state-targeted programs for […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1032 PDF (1.05 MB)
• Working Paper No. 1025 August 01, 2023

  Unconventional Monetary Policy or Automatic Stabilizers?

  Nitin Nair
  Abstract

  The purpose of public policy, expansionary or contractionary, is to encourage the expansion of income, output, and employment. Theory decides the nature and kind of policy, and the underlying mechanics that result in expansion. Keynes (1964) brings money and a monetary production economy to the forefront of economic analysis, yet in the General Theory, he […]

  Download Working Paper No. 1025 PDF (390.80 KB)