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Who were the Classical Economists?. A group of the 18 th and 19 th centuries, including Adam Smith known as the father of modern day economics. What did Adam Smith and the Classical Economists believe?. The economy was always tending toward a full employment equilibrium and stable prices.
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Who were theClassical Economists? • A group of the 18th and 19th centuries, including Adam Smith known as the father of modern day economics
What did Adam Smith and the Classical Economists believe? • The economy was always tending toward a full employment equilibrium and stable prices
What doeslaissez-faire mean? • Leave well enough alone, let the economy correct problems itself
What happened in the Depression of 1921? • Even though it was serious the government practiced laissez-faire and the economy recovered in a short period of time
What were policies of President Herbert Hoover in the early 1930s to combat the depression? • public works projects • raised taxes • loans to failing firms • relief programs
What were policies of President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 to combat the depression? • public works projects and social welfare programs • raised taxes and wages • loans to failing firms • relief programs
According to Robert Reich, an American political economist and professor, what was the result of these government programs? • These programs helped save American capitalism
According to Thomas Woods author of Meltdown, what was the result of these government programs? • These programs prevented the economy from seeking its equilibrium of full employment and prolonged the depression
What is a fiscal policy? • The manipulation of government purchases, transfer payments, taxes, and borrowing in order to positively influence the economy
How did Keynes influence fiscal policies? • He argued that fiscal policies may be necessary to bring about full employment
How did World War II affect fiscal policies? • It showed that a government stimulus package can work
What is theEmployment Act of 1946? • Its main purpose was to lay the responsibility of economic stability of inflation and unemployment onto the federal government
What are the four phases of the business cycle? • trough • recovery • peak • recession
What is a liquidity trap? • A lack of borrowing keeps money bottled up in savings institutions
What is the Keynesian solution to a liquidity trap? • Government borrows the money that consumers and business do not borrow
What does crowding out mean? • During periods of full employment the government can borrow money that otherwise would be spent or invested
How does the government borrow money? • It sells bonds (securities) to the Fed or in the Open Market
What is the current national debt? • Just over $17.5 trillion • http://www.usdebtclock.org/
What does monetizing the debt mean? • The federal government sells bonds (securities) to the Fed and the Fed creates the money to buy the bonds
What can monetizing the debt lead to? • A fall in the value of the dollar and inflation
What is a discretionary fiscal policy? • Government policies that require ongoing decisions by policy makers
What are some examples of fiscal policies? • Government purchases • Transfer payments • Taxes
What are automatic stabilizers? • Structural features of government spending and taxation smooth out fluctuations in booms and busts
What are some examples of automatic stabilizers? • Unemployment payments • Welfare • Other govt. programs
What is the point of Keynesian Economics? • The economy could be stuck at equilibrium below the potential output for a prolonged period of time
What is an expansionary fiscal policy? • An increase in government purchases, decrease in net taxes, or some combination of the two aimed at increasing aggregate demand
When would the government use expansionary fiscal policies? • To stimulate the economy when unemployment is greater than the natural rate
What is a contractionary fiscal policy? • A decrease in government purchases, increase in net taxes, or some combination of the two aimed at reducing aggregate demand
When would the government use contractionary fiscal policies? • To slow down the economy when inflation is more than desired
What is the typical Keynesian policy during recessions? • To use discretionary fiscal policies to stimulate the economy to a full employment equilibrium
What is the multiplier? • Any change in the level of spending has a multiple effect on GDP
What is the balanced budget multiplier? • Spending is multiplied because the government does not save any of the money it receives whereas consumes and business does
What is the accelerator? • Any increase in spending can lead to an increase in secondary spending, for example, a new highway may lead to more restaurants, hotels, and gas stations
When does the accelerator have most impact on spending? • During periods of full employment
How did World War II affect fiscal policies? • It showed that a government stimulus package can work
What is MPC? • The marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is a measure of how much consumers will spend out of any addition to their income
What is MPS? • The marginal propensity to save (MPS) is a measure of how much consumers will save out of any addition to their income
If MPC is ¾, what is MPS? • MPS would be ¼ because MPC + MPS = 1
What is the value of the multiplier? • 1 / MPS
If MPC is ¾, what is the value of the multiplier? • 1 / ¼ = 4
$100.00 • $75.00 • $56.25 • $42.19 • $31.64 • ... • original spent • total money $400.00
What effect does an increase in demand have on prices and output? • The more steeply sloped the supply curve the greater impact on prices and the less impact on employment
Slightly sloped Supply Curve • Price • Level • SRAS • AD* • AD Real GDP
Steeply sloped Supply Curve • Price • Level • SRAS • AD* • AD Real GDP
How effective are fiscal policies? • Automatic stabilizers are more effective than are discretionary fiscal policies
Should we rely on automatic stabilizers? • The stronger and more effective the automatic stabilizers are, the less need there is for discretionary fiscal policies
How effective were fiscal policies during the stagflation of the 1970’s? • Whatever we did to fight one problem we made the other problem worse
What are lag effects? • Recognition lag • Decision lag • Action lag
Do lag effects influence discretionaryfiscal policies? • Yes, they weaken fiscal policies as a tool of economic stabilization
What is one’spermanent income? • Income that individuals expect to receive on average over the long term