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Lecture

Fiscal Policy and Economic Situation

In course

FIN-406: Macrofinance

This course provides students with a working knowledge of macroeconomic models that explicitly incorporate financial markets. The goal is to develop a broad and analytical framework for analyzing the interaction of financial decisions, macroeconomic events ...

Description

This lecture covers the current economic and fiscal situation, discussing topics such as potential output, output gap, fiscal stance, government debt, GDP growth, government budget balance, and government spending shocks. It also explores the impact of distortionary taxes, deficit-financed government spending increases, and the debate on fiscal austerity.

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Instructors (3)

Christian Pröbsting

Stylianos Tsiaras

I am a scientific collaborator at the Luisa Lambertini's Chair of International Finance at the Swiss Finance Inst i tute. Previously I was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute. I got my PhD in economics at the University of Surrey. My thesis was supervised by Professor Martin Kaae Jensen and Dr. Tom Holden. My recent research explores the set of unconventional monetary policies by the European Central Bank and their impact on the macroeconomy, welfare and inequality.

Luisa Lambertini

Luisa Lambertini is Full Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), where she holds the Chair of International Finance. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1995, her Master of Science in Economics from Warwick University in 1989 and a Laurea cum Laude from the Universita' degli Studi di Bologna in 1987. Prior to coming to EPFL, Professor Lambertini was Associate Professor at Claremont McKenna College 2005-06, Associate Professor at Boston College 2003-06 and Assistant Professor at the University of California at Los Angeles 1995-03. Professor Lambertini's research is in international finance, open-economy macroeconomics and political economy. She studies how monetary and fiscal policies affect the economy, how they interact and how they can be used to achieve good economic outcomes and improve social welfare. Professor Lambertini's research focuses on how monetary and fiscal institutions should be designed to successfully mitigate the impact of unexpected shocks while pursuing long-run goals consistent with price stability and fiscal sustainability. These issues are even more important for small open economies in an interdependent world and for countries that adopt a common currency. Professor Lambertini has published articles in the American Economic Review, the Review of Economic Studies, the European Economic Review, the Journal of International Economics and the Economic Journal, among others. She was a Consultant in the Fiscal Policies Division of the European Central Bank and she has organized several international conferences. More details on my CV

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Economics

Macroeconomics: Topics in macroeconomics

Microeconomics: Economic systems

Related concepts (31)

Government budget balance

The government budget balance, also referred to as the general government balance, public budget balance, or public fiscal balance, is the difference between government revenues and spending. For a government that uses accrual accounting (rather than cash accounting) the budget balance is calculated using only spending on current operations, with expenditure on new capital assets excluded. A positive balance is called a government budget surplus, and a negative balance is a government budget deficit.

Deficit spending

Within the budgetary process, deficit spending is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue over a particular period of time, also called simply deficit, or budget deficit; the opposite of budget surplus. The term may be applied to the budget of a government, private company, or individual. Government deficit spending was first identified as a necessary economic tool by John Maynard Keynes in the wake of the Great Depression. It is a central point of controversy in economics, as discussed below.

Government spending

Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual or collective needs of the community, is classed as government final consumption expenditure. Government acquisition of goods and services intended to create future benefits, such as infrastructure investment or research spending, is classed as government investment (government gross capital formation).

Fiscal policy

In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government revenue collection (taxes or tax cuts) and expenditure to influence a country's economy. The use of government revenue expenditures to influence macroeconomic variables developed in reaction to the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the previous laissez-faire approach to economic management became unworkable.

Tax

A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to collectively fund government spending, public expenditures, or as a way to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax compliance refers to policy actions and individual behaviour aimed at ensuring that taxpayers are paying the right amount of tax at the right time and securing the correct tax allowances and tax reliefs.

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Government budget balance